


An accidental marriage

by fangirlandiknowit



Category: Naruto
Genre: M/M, lots of silly humor, reposting from ff.net, spoiler: Naruto tops, then later on the feels hit
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-13
Updated: 2015-01-15
Packaged: 2018-03-07 11:18:18
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 61,995
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3172414
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fangirlandiknowit/pseuds/fangirlandiknowit
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Somehow, Sasuke ends up proposing to his annoying flat-mate Naruto. Somehow, his family thinks it's for real! What is poor Sasuke supposed to do? Will this accidental marriage be his demise, or can something good actually come out of it?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Pretty sure proposals don't work that way

**Author's Note:**

> So this is one of my oldest stories, and for some reason most popular. In fact, it's so popular that it places as nr 64 in terms of amount of reviews on ff.net in the Naruto/Sasuke, Romance, completed fics category. I have no idea how this came to be but 800+ reviews can't be wrong right? Quality fic right here. This will never cease to amaze me. Especially since I personally feel like the first few chapters are a train wreck of my silly humor and crazy plot idea. Please feel free to judge for yourselves. 
> 
> If you've read this before or compare to ff, you'll notice that it has fewer chapters, because the first 15 or so were really short and I don't see the need to split it up like that here, even if 42 is a very beautiful number. However, I'll still keep the parts, which means there'll be linebreaks here and there with titles, in memory of the original format. So there's still be 42 parts, even if there are less chapters.
> 
> But whatever, I'm mostly just moving it here bc I know there are people who like to re-read this (including me) and ao3 is just so much nicer. If seeing the number of reviews makes you think "Oh, then I really don't need to review even if this is the first time I'm reading it", please understand that I'd be very happy if you review my ongoing stories at least, if you're reading them. Writers need constant reassurement because we are fragile things who often doubt ourselves. 
> 
> Thank you for reading!! I'll leave AN:s if it's needed, otherwise, you won't hear from me until the final chapter heh.

**Part 1: What just happened?!**

 

Uchiha Sasuke viewed the box in his left hand. It didn’t even have the decency to be small! It was the size of perhaps three normal boxes for engagement rings together (what kind of box did you think it was – his lunchbox?) and the blue satin was covered with little red and white jewels on the top, forming the Uchiha fan. He hated it. It had been in his possession approximately 12 hours now, given to him by his dear grandmother last night, and this was the first time he’d taken it out to view it. _Yes,_ he thought, _it’s irritating, ostentatious and has way too much smug pride, describing the Uchiha family to its very core._ He sneered at it. And he was supposed to present this to his future fiancé? He shuddered at the thought. The kind of girl his father and mother had in mind for him would probably gush over it, all teary eyes and whatever girls looked like when they were proposed to. Yes, he loved his grandmother, but her so called dying wish to see him happily married felt like he’d just gotten his death sentence. Suffocating. And there were two obvious faults with her wish: ‘dying’ and ‘happily’. Because in no way was the Lady Uchiha dying, she was probably healthier than most teens of today, and he would bet the family fortune that she would live to see at least another ten years. Which might have been cause for some relief on his part, if it weren’t for the fact that she pretended to only have one of them left, two at the most.

He glared at the oh-so-innocent looking box again, and opened it with a frown of distaste. The rings were, if possible, worse than the package they came in. They were made of white gold, with an intricate pattern of yellow gold and then red rubies to top it off. On the female ring, the pattern met at the top and rose intertwined around the large ruby, whereas on the male one there were three smaller ones embedded in it. Maybe they were fashionable a thousand years ago when they were most likely made, and they were of course worth a horrible amount of money, but all the same Sasuke hated them. He hated that not only would he have to give away one of them and spend a lot of his life (no way his whole life) with the person carrying it; he would also have to _actually wear_ one of them. And he hated it.

When he’d sat on his bed long enough just staring at it, he decided he might as well try out how loathsome a mock proposal would feel. Today could hardly get worse, could it? He kneeled appropriately on the floor, stretched out his left hand in front of him, and said:

“Oh, I’ve loved you for so long my darling, please do me the honor of marrying me.” He raised his eyes to look into the ones of his imaginary bride, and felt himself freeze in shock when he actually found himself staring into a pair of blue eyes, giving him a blank stare. _How the hell did Naruto sneak into my room without me noticing it?! And WHY didn’t he say anything?_

Before he had time to explain himself though, the blond in front of him put his hand on his chest and looked down at Sasuke in mock happiness.

“Why Sasuke! This was a truly wonderful surprise! With the way you’ve been acting so cold lately I thought something was wrong, and then it turns out you were just nervous about this!” He bent down and quickly snatched up one of the rings and put it on his finger. “I’d just love to spend the rest of my life with your pale bastard ass!”

When the ring was fit securely he raised his hand with spread fingers as if to admire it, and continued talking in his normal, annoying (to Sasuke), voice.

“Haha damn bastard, this ring actually fits pretty good! It’s ugly as fuck though, I pity the poor girl having to wear it!”

“Idiot, that’s the guy’s ring,” was the only thing Sasuke could choke out in his surprised and embarrassed state.

Naruto looked at the box again, and snatched up the whole ugly thing.

“Aha! I see, but this ring would be way too small for me, you should have taken it to a jeweler and had the size changed or something,” he said as he took the smaller ring between his fingertips and examined it. “And it’s even uglier than this one.” He proceeded to waggle his ring-clad hand in front of Sasuke’s face, which was now slowly being morphed into an angered expression. But before he had time to say anything to make the moron stop, Naruto did the very thing that would seal their fate without them knowing it. He grinned and promptly put the smaller ring on Sasuke’s finger, and amazingly enough it fit.

For a while, all that the two of them could do was stare at Sasuke’s pale hand, held in Naruto’s obviously larger tanned one, the ring standing out like fresh blood on a white floor. Terribly wrong and morbidly fascinating. Naruto lifted his gaze to observe Sasuke’s dark eyes, framed by darker bangs and even darker eye lashes. He waited calmly for Sasuke’s outburst that he knew would come, it always came when Naruto annoyed his flat-mate to the point of breaking through his perfect Uchiha barrier, the one that pointed at you with a stick saying “Hn, you’re so low beneath me that I won’t even bother reacting to your dumb actions”. He counted silently to himself, but when he came to five he started to worry a bit. He’d never gotten to five before. Usually he managed to reach two, on some rare occasions he would get to four and then get one hell of a beating, so five was quite alarming. And six? He hastily decided to stop counting and backed away slowly, Sasuke still having his gaze transfixed on the ring decorating his finger. He swallowed nervously, and scratched the back of his head.

By now he had reached the door. If he needed to run, he wanted a good head start, but Sasuke had yet to move and that made him hesitate in the doorway. He cleared his throat, and finally Sasuke reacted. However, he didn’t do any of the things Naruto expected. He didn’t yell at him, didn’t launch himself forward to rip Naruto’s heart out, hell he didn’t even look at Naruto! Instead, he slowly reached forwards with his right hand, took a hold of the ring and attempted to pull it off. Attempted being the key word here. It seemed that the ring was of the size that lets you put it on, but gets caught when you try to take it off. For another minute that felt like an eternity they both remained still, simply staring dumb-founded at the not-so-cooperative piece of gold. And then the door bell rang.

“Ah!” Naruto exclaimed, snapping his head up as if suddenly released from a daydream. “That’s what I was supposed to tell you when I came in, Kiba’s here to pick us up, we’re heading down to Ichiraku’s!” He looked at Sasuke expectantly, as if he’d already forgotten the predicament they were in, and most likely he had. He was never one to dwell on stuff for long anyway. When Sasuke didn’t respond, he huffed and retraced his steps to pull the still shocked bastard to his feet and proceeded to drag him out the door and to an awaiting Kiba. At least he let Sasuke put his shoes on, which he did, clearly still in shock.

 

**Part 2: What does he think he’s doing?!**

 

When Sasuke came to, he found himself sitting in a chair, surrounded by annoying people. He felt as if he was in the middle of a bad hangover. That means not good for those of you fortunate enough to never have experienced one. It seemed as though they had just arrived, and were placing orders. He looked up at the waitress, ready to order, when Naruto interrupted him.

“I’ll order for him, he’s a little out of it right now,” he said. Sasuke glared at him.

“I can order for myself you moron, and if I’m out of it it’s your fault so I wouldn’t look so carefree if I were you.” The sentence was bit out rather harshly and accompanied with another lovely glare, before he turned to the waitress once again. “And you’re paying” he added.

Naruto laughed a little and scratched his nose. With his left hand. Anybody not blind would notice the ring still there, glittering in the cozy light from above their table. A united gasp ran around the group, save Naruto and Sasuke of course.

“OH MY GOD Naruto, is that an engagement ring on your finger?!” Sakura almost yelled from beside Sasuke, looking at Naruto with sparkly eyes.

“Dude that’s totally unexpected, I mean you’re like the village whore!” Kiba exclaimed, clapping Naruto’s back soundly, making him wince a little.

“I am NOT a whore, I just get a lot of game and you know that dog-face! And Sasuke has the other one.”

Sasuke waved his left hand for everyone to see, resting his head in his right one and looking bored. He expected people to laugh and take it as a joke, asking how the hell Naruto managed to convince Sasuke to wear something like that. His expectations were, sadly, not met.

“Wow Sasuke, when grandmother gave you those rings yesterday you didn’t exactly look happy about it, who knew you’d been waiting for a chance like this? And with dickless none the less.”

Oh no. _Sai_ was here, his goddamn cousin. How come he didn’t notice him? His perceptive skills today were embarrassingly bad. He opened his mouth to deny this crazy assumption, when Naruto opened his and responded in his stead. Again. Was he making a habit out of this?

“I know right? I just walked into his room and there he was, on one knee telling me how much he loooves me, giving me this ugly-ass ring but I thought, hey, if it doesn’t work out I can probably sell it for a bucket-load of money.” And he grinned, that shit-eating grin of his that never failed to make Sasuke grit his teeth.

“Damn it Naruto that is not what happened and don’t you dare-“

But his angry shout fell on deaf ears. Ears belonging to people way too busy congratulating Naruto, and shouting and crying and god knows what. Lee yelled the waitress over, demanding celebratory drinks, and she left to get them after she too had congratulated the both of them. In his shocked state Sasuke vaguely heard disbelieving comments mixed with “I knew it!” and “It was soo obvious”, and he let his head fall to the table, letting out an uncharacteristic groan. That complete asshole! He knew Naruto was just messing with him, like he’d always done, ever since they’d started living together just before Sasuke’s second year at university two and a half years ago. Of course Sasuke could have moved, but he liked his apartment and Naruto refused to leave it. So he’d been stuck with the moron and unfortunately he’d gotten somewhat used to him, letting him force him into socializing with said moron’s friends. And see where that got him. He sighed, and decided to just get drunk and wait until Naruto saw fit to explain how their ‘engagement’ came to be to his less than intelligent friends. Had he known what would follow, he would have never let Naruto run his little joke through. But as it was, he just sat and glared at the offending people at the table insisting on grabbing his hand too often to admire (or snicker at) the ring there. And if Naruto was bothered by the Uchiha’s death-promising glares, he didn’t show it.

 

**Part 3: Happily what now?!**

 

The next morning found our favorite Uchiha sporting a real hangover. It also found him not in his own bed. Now, don’t jump to conclusions here, Sasuke would never lose control even while drunk and Naruto would never take advantage of a drunk friend, so nothing sexual had happened. Well, Sasuke had a hazy memory of Naruto dragging him into the orange bedroom in their apartment, pushing him onto the bed, mumbling something about how ‘fiancés should sleep together’, giving him a sloppy kiss on the cheek and then falling asleep on top of him. And since he was too drunk and tired to roll the idiot off, he fell asleep as well. And now something had woke him up. What was it? Ah, his phone, its low ringtone vibrating through his pocket. Sasuke didn’t like loud things, and so naturally he had an almost silent ringtone. Unfortunately he woke up easily. He struggled to get it out, having to partly ease himself out from underneath the snoring body next to him, and answered it. Oh, how he wished he hadn’t. His biggest wish after that conversation would be to fall asleep again and then wake up yesterday, before any of this had happened.

_“Good morning little brother, how are you feeling today? Happily engaged I presume.”_

Sasuke furrowed his brows. What the hell did his brother mean?

“What the hell do you mean?” he asked while rubbing sleep from his eyes, trying to ignore the headache behind his eyebrows.

_“I must say I was a little surprised, you haven’t exactly given any hints that you were in a relationship of that level, but grandmother is overjoyed of course.”_

A sinking feeling of dread crept through Sasuke at this point. He recalled yesterday, and with a silent curse he dropped the phone and buried his face in his hands. How the hell had his grandmother heard of his accidental proposal – that wasn’t even real damn it! – to Naruto? As he groaned, he noticed that he _still_ had the stupid ring on his finger. He glared at it, as if it would help, and ignored the amused “Sasuke?” from his phone. Even his brother laughed at him! Squaring his shoulders he picked up the phone again and explained what had happened the day before. When his evil brother had stopped laughing, he let Sasuke know that it was Sai who had called this morning to tell the news. Apparently Naruto had failed to let his friends in on the truth yesterday.

_“But you know Sasuke, even if it was just a joke there is no way you can tell grandmother that. She’s already started to make preparations. She even cried when Sai told her!”_

Grandmother crying was about as believable as Itachi not stealing candy from kids, but still. This was one fucked-up situation.

“But Naruto’s a guy! Surely she would object?”

 _“No, she just said ‘I always knew my sweet Sasuke-kun was special’ and demanded pictures of Naruto. Sai already gave her some and she seems to approve.”_ The amusement in Itachi’s voice was painfully obvious. The reason why was explained with his next sentence. _“And I heard you’re wearing the girl’s ring?”_

He seemed to take Sasuke’s angry silence as the yes it was, and started chuckling. Itachi never laughed out loud, as the true Uchiha he was, but had he been a normal person he would now be rolling on the floor screaming and clutching at his stomach. Sasuke grit his teeth and mentally counted to ten, very slowly, before he asked the question he would have nightmares about for a long time onwards.

“Is there any way I can get out of this?” He waited, eyes closed and a painful lump in his throat. Itachi seemed to collect himself for a bit before he answered, and actually managed to sound apologetic.

_“I’m sorry little brother, but not if you want to keep your dignity and Naruto alive.”_

And that is how Uchiha Sasuke found himself engaged to Uzumaki Naruto.  

 

**Part 4: But it was just a joke!**

 

When Naruto woke up, he found himself in his own bed as (perhaps not considering his reputation) usual. He was tired, a little hung over perhaps, nothing out of the ordinary. He scratched, yawned, and it wasn’t until he stood in the bathroom, about to relieve himself, that he noted the ring. And when his memories came back to him he laughed out loud. He sure got that bastard back for setting fire to his ramen collection last month! He’d call Sakura and the others later to clear things up (like he really wanted them to think he was in love with the bastard, he’d rather marry a squirrel! At least squirrels were cute) and then Sasuke would punish him and life would go on as it had throughout their university years so far. So when he finally reached the kitchen, since his stomach demanded he stop stalling, he expected something very different from the contemplative silence that Sasuke greeted him with. Sasuke wasn’t out of it like yesterday though, no, quite the opposite. He looked sharply at Naruto, calculating, as if trying to find the best way to say whatever he wanted to say. When Sasuke looked like that, it meant it was serious. Naruto gulped. He didn’t look angry, but that didn’t necessarily mean anything. Slowly, he made his way to the fridge, all the while feeling the bastard’s gaze following him as he took out his milk and peanut butter. It followed him as he sliced a piece of bread, spread the peanut butter on top of it, and poured milk into a large glass. He sat down at the table, all of his movements slow and careful, as if he was ready to bolt any moment should Sasuke indicate any violent urges. But Sasuke kept looking at him, like he was memorizing his very being, seeing him clearly for the first time. And then Sasuke started talking. A conversation that Naruto would remember his whole life followed, despite him forgetting so many other important things.

 “Remember how I told you that one day one of your so called jokes would back-fire and you’d find yourself in a pretty messy situation?”

Naruto gave Sasuke a tentative look. He wasn’t sure yet if this was a good or bad reaction from Sasuke, but the hard gaze that met him made him think that yeah, it was probably bad.

“U…huh?” he intelligently answered.

“Well, it has finally happened. And of course it had to involve me. Is your life’s purpose to annoy me?” All of this was said very calmly, almost as if the dark-haired man was thinking out loud to himself. Naruto decided that this was really really bad.

“I’m sorry! It won’t happen again!” The desperate apology didn’t even manage to make Sasuke raise an eyebrow. He just kept staring at Naruto, although now he looked more exasperated.

“Engagements are not things to be taken lightly, do you understand this?” When Naruto just stared at him he continued. “Repeat after me: Engagements are not things to be taken lightly, and I will take responsibility for the mistakes that I have made.”

Naruto’s eyes widened comically in fear. Fear of what he didn’t know yet, and he wasn’t very eager to find out.

“Engagements are not things to be… uh…”

“Taken lightly,” Sasuke repeated patiently.

“Right, taken lightly, and I will take responsibility for the mistakes that I have made. So, exactly what have I done?” he asked with a grimace.

“You,” Sasuke started slowly, “have managed to make my family believe, that you and I, are engaged. For real.”

Naruto could only continue to stare. What the hell was Sasuke on about?

“But it was just a joke!” he responded, flustered, unable to believe that Sasuke’s family would actually believe something as ridiculous as their engagement. But, he remembered with a sour taste in his mouth, their friends had believed them too…

“Naruto, I have said this before, and perhaps now you will finally understand. Do. Not. Joke. With. Uchihas. Uchihas don’t like jokes, they do not _understand_ jokes, and they will either take you seriously or think that you are mad. Sai is a very good example of that. And unfortunately, my family chose to take Sai seriously this morning when he called to tell them ‘the happy news’.” He narrowed his eyes, now letting his irritation leak through. “ _You_ , have managed to make sure that _we_ ” here he pointed between himself and Naruto, “are forced to get married.”

Naruto couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Sasuke saying that they were going to get married? Either this was some sick joke or he was still asleep. Uh oh, that thing about Uchihas never joking… So he must be asleep! He pinched his arm and yelped when it obviously hurt. Sasuke kept watching him, his less than amused expression screaming at Naruto that this wasn’t some sick joke. It was the truth. Sasuke’s family really thought they wanted to get married, and Sasuke seemed intent on following their wishes. So he did the only sensible thing; he smacked his forehead down on the table, groaning at the pain. That didn’t wake him up either. Fuck.

 

**Part 5: Just _how_ long did you say?!**

 

Sasuke watched the blond moron groaning into the table. This was whom he had to marry? He had never expected to marry happily, but still. The idiot? _Really_? He felt no sympathy towards the mumbling mess on his table – yes, _his_ table that he bought and graciously let Naruto use – because if anybody was the victim here it was clearly Sasuke. And then Naruto managed to annoy him even further.

“This is your fault!” he yelled at Sasuke, barely lifting his head from the dark brown surface and pointing. “Just tell your stupid bastard family that it was a mistake and Sai got drunk and dreamt it up or something!”

“Do you think I WANT to marry you or something!? Trust me moron, if there was any way to get out of this without inflicting shame on my family name, losing half my fortune and the position in Uchiha Corps that I expect and desire we wouldn’t be having this conversation!” He stopped his yelling, pausing to catch his breath. The idiot was causing his headache to return. Naruto raised an eyebrow.

“Lose half your fortune? What the hell?”

“You heard me. I would be mocked for the rest of my life if the truth came out, as my dear brother so nicely put it. The laughing stock of my family.”

Sasuke now glared with utmost hatred at Naruto, and he winced. Sasuke’s family was really important to him. He’d do anything to please them and look good in front of them, making them proud. Even to the point of marrying the blond moron he hated so much apparently. Naruto groaned in half-defeat. What could a lowly citizen like him do in front of the powerful Uchiha-clan anyway?

“But Sasukeee,” he whined, “we can’t be expected to spend the rest of our lives together, can we?”

Sasuke looked at him steadily for a while. “No, that is definitely out of the question. But two years as married is the minimum, plus approximately half a year as fiancés. Or until my grandmother dies, although I expect her to hold on more than two years.” _Which might cause some troubles further on_ he mentally added to himself. But no point in worrying about that yet.

“You expect me to spend _two and a half years_ together with _you_?” Naruto asked dismayed. _This is even worse than the years I spent chasing after Sakura, getting beaten up once a day. Or twice._

“You’ve already spent two and a half years with me. And I’m not expecting us to be some sort of lovey-dovey couple.” Sasuke looked as if he was about to puke just by saying those words. “You will behave in front of my family, attend family gatherings, and I won’t kill you. That’s the deal.”

Naruto gave him a disbelieving look, as if he doubted that that deal would work out as well as finding some faults in it, but he couldn’t really think of anything to say. Because really, what were you supposed to say to a person you’ve accidentally been forced to marry?

“Get dressed,” Sasuke said suddenly.

Oh, apparently that’s what you said. “Why?” Naruto replied.

“Because, I have to introduce you to my family. Of course, the formal engagement party will be held in a couple of weeks, but you get what I mean. Try not to embarrass me too much.”

And with that, the Uchiha heir stood up and quietly left the room, probably to do his hair. If anything screamed ‘gay’ about Sasuke it was the amount of time he spent on his appearance, except Sasuke was actually straight, or so he claimed. Although, Naruto was gay and he barely cared about such things. His natural charm got him laid anyway. But certainly not often enough to deserve Kiba’s comment from yesterday. Oh shit. He just realized something. Two and a half years with Sasuke, would that mean two and a half years without sex? The thought made his stomach clench uneasily. He definitely wasn’t the village whore, but celibacy? He ferociously vowed to never, ever mess with the Uchihas again. If he could help it.


	2. Just go with the flow

**Part 6: Not as bad as it could have been**

 

Two hours later found Naruto standing nervously beneath a huge towering mansion, surrounded by perfect lawns and methodically placed trees and flower bushes, although since it was fall there weren’t any flowers. So this was Sasuke’s family home. He thought of his own, a rundown apartment he’d shared with his godfather Jiraiya since his parents were what they called ‘adventurers’ and travelled around the world climbing Mount Everest and taking pictures of poisonous snakes and other things in what weren’t very good environments for kids. He’d felt as if the two bedrooms, living room and small kitchen had felt vast and empty all those hours he’d spent alone since Jiraiya worked a lot. Now, he imagined Sasuke as a kid, coming home to a place like this, terribly impersonal and large enough to get lost in and not be found for hours. Well, he hadn’t seen the inside yet, but this sure explained why Sasuke was so tense all the time, and had gotten outbursts regularly the first months they’d lived together every time Naruto left something out of place or messy. He noticed Sasuke squaring his shoulders out of the corner of his eye, molding his face into that flawless Uchiha Noh mask. Naruto fidgeted with the collar of his shirt again. Sasuke had judged all his clothes as unworthy and had forced him to wear the new dark blue shirt he’d bought earlier that week, since his parents wouldn’t recognize it. And Naruto absolutely loathed wearing shirts; he avoided them like the plague. Unfortunately the plague known as Sasuke had assured him that from now on he would be wearing a lot of these shirts. Asshole.

The massive front door swung open, and a bowing butler showed them inside. Who the hell has a butler nowadays anyway? And the inside was even worse than Naruto’s imagination had thought. There were large hallways, the ceiling so high Naruto almost had to crane his neck to see it, and there were lots of scary paintings and large mirrors. Heavy crystal chandeliers hung on golden chains, the light subdued. He snuck glances into the rooms they passed on each side, they were all large and with an interior design that looked distinctly old and too valuable to touch or use. No wonder Sasuke was so bitchy about the furniture in their apartment. He’d literally grown up in a museum! Eventually they reached their destination, after a lot of twists and turns and two wide stair cases. He noticed Sasuke frowning, but he ignored the questioning glance Naruto sent him. The butler stopped outside a decorated white door, and stepped inside motioning for them to wait. Naruto didn’t like this, he was actually glad now that Sasuke had forced him to wear the shirt. He still felt underdressed in this heavy atmosphere. He clenched and unclenched his fingers, and almost gave a shriek when Sasuke grabbed his arm. He started turning around but stopped when he felt the bastard leaning close to his ear and whispering, his breath warm against Naruto’s ear.

“Stop fidgeting, you need to look confident, and don’t let them scare you. If things get awkward, talk about the tea or say something embarrassing about me. They love hearing stuff like that.”

Before Naruto had time to retort, the butler showed up again and told them to enter. This room wasn’t very big compared to some of the others they’d passed, but still larger than the average living room. There was a spidery white table in the middle, where some blue patterned china was placed. Naruto gulped. Those cups were probably worth more than he earned in a year. Better not drop his. Around the table were six white chairs that looked too rickety to be safe, and the whole room seemed to be rather romantic-looking, a grandfather’s clock in the same style by one wall and some small tables with flowers underneath the large windows. His gaze then zoomed in on the other occupants in the room; Sasuke’s family. Naruto had met Sasuke’s brother Itachi before, and occasionally he had nightmares about the good-looking, pony-tail-wearing older Uchiha heir. His face was of course in that perfect mask, but underneath that the devil lived, at least if you believed some of Sasuke’s stories. Sasuke’s mother Mikoto looked much more pleasant, she was actually smiling slightly! It was easy to see where Sasuke got his good looks from. The father looked… intimidating. He decided not to let his eyes linger on Fugaku for too long. And that left only the grandmother… She looked the same as many old ladies, except wearing a lot more jewels and her back so straight and regal that she seemed to think of herself as a queen. And perhaps in this household she was.

Naruto was snapped out of his musings by the Uchiha family getting to their feet and moving forward to greet him and Sasuke. Oh god. This must be how it felt like to be a mouse trapped into a corner by a cat. Or maybe a tiger. Or that spider in the Lord of the Rings. But incredibly enough introductions passed without any incidents, and soon Naruto was sitting beside Sasuke on one of those thin chairs praying that it wouldn’t break as he was being served tea by the butler. He lifted the beautiful cup to his mouth and took a sip.

“Wow, this is really good!” he exclaimed. Mikoto looked at him with a slightly surprised look, and then smiled.

“I’m glad you like it, it is from our own plantation,” she answered calmly.

“Really? Sasuke never told me you had your own tea plantation?” He looked at Sasuke who just kept sipping at his tea. Naruto could see the small, almost invisible frown of distaste on his face and laughed a little.

“There’s a very nice tea shop and café close to the university, we go there all the time. Although, _he_ only comes for the coffee,” he said while nudging Sasuke in the ribs with his elbow. Sasuke graced him with a small irritated glare.

“Yes, well, Sasuke was never much of a tea person,” Itachi flicked in, receiving Sasuke’s second glare with an amused expression. Apparently Uchihas were allowed such expressions at home.

“It’s lucky for me that he likes coffee though, he’s such a horrible morning person before he gets it. And for some reason he’s always forcing _me_ to make it for him!” Now Sasuke was on the receiving end of an annoyed half-glare, which he ignored completely.

“You must make good coffee then.” It was Fugaku who suddenly opened his mouth, shocking Naruto with a compliment. Naruto scratched his neck, slightly blushing.

“Hehe, well, my godfather taught me lots about coffee,” he said. And mentally added: _And lots about alcohol and drinks._ He didn’t think the Uchihas would be impressed by such things though.

There was a lull in the conversation, when Sasuke surprisingly broke it.

“It’s good,” he said. When the others looked at him rather curiously, he added: “Naruto’s coffee, I mean.” The rest of the Uchihas nodded, and Naruto looked down into his tea smiling to himself. Even if Sasuke only said it for the benefit of their charade, it was still nice to receive a compliment from the bastard. Those things were really rare, and usually hidden within insults.

“Well, I think it’s nice to see that my dear Sasuke finally found a good friend, and hopefully even better fiancé!” Sasuke’s grandmother said then. Sasuke and Naruto stared at her. What did she mean by friend?

“Oh, don’t look at me like that Sasuke dear, I know you two are much more than friends, but good marriages are based on friendship, not fleeting attraction. Let us discuss the marriage plans, shall we?” And with that, she proceeded to tell her dear Sasuke and his supposed fiancé about the perfect wedding reception she had planned for them, asking questions now and then about their preferences and making small changes. It was all very confusing for Naruto, but he tried to follow as best he could. Sasuke seemed content to leave their opinions in Naruto’s hands and barely said a word. He just glared at Itachi occasionally who looked as if he found all this extremely amusing.

 

 

**Part 7: Just a little**

 

A couple of hours later they exited the mansion (or was it a castle?) and Naruto let out a relieved sigh.

“You know, your family’s not as bad as I thought they’d be, but you could have at least _pretended_ to be interested in the marriage,” he then said, turning his head to pout at Sasuke.

“No,” was the charming answer he received.

“What do you mean ‘no’ you bastard!” Naruto had stopped and pointed an accusing finger at his seemingly bored flat-mate-turned-fiancé. “You’re the one who supposedly proposed anyway!”

“I mean ‘no’ as in ‘my family is a lot worse than you could ever think’ and ‘if I seemed interested in the wedding I would be acting very suspicious’.”

“Then why didn’t you say that?” Naruto grumbled, crossing his arms and looking very much like a child who was tricked into thinking that going to the dentist included fun. Or something equally evil.

“Whatever moron,” Sasuke sighed, and started walking towards his car. Naruto followed reluctantly. It irked him that Sasuke not only had a driver’s license, he also had his own car. And it was a nice one too. Fucking rich bastard. He slumped down into the passenger’s seat and slammed the car door shut (not hard enough to make Sasuke mad and refuse to drive him home, but enough to be irritating). And sure enough Sasuke sent him an irritated glare as he turned the key and started the engine. They drove the first five minutes in silence, until Naruto was too bored to keep up his annoyed expression.

“Your house was soo scary you know, I felt like I was in a horror film or something! It’s no wonder you turned out so weird if you grew up there!”

“It’s not scary, it’s just big.”

“Ha! I bet you had to sleep with the lights on when you were a kid! I can totally see why you moved out after high school.”

Sasuke actually gave a half-amused smirk at hearing this.

“You can, can you?” he said, eyes focused on the road.

“Yep! ‘Cause I’m such an understanding fiancé. That’s why you luuurve me so much!” He let Sasuke feel the full force of his thousand-megawatt smile. Unfortunately Sasuke was still focused on the road.

“You wish idiot,” came the mocking reply.

Naruto narrowed his eyes at the raven in the seat next to him.

“You know, if you acted a little less like marrying me is the end of the world and a little more like a not-bastard we might not have to spend the next two and a half years in complete misery.”

Sasuke was quiet for a while, as if he was thinking Naruto’s words over. When he’d been quiet a few seconds too long Naruto lost his patience.

“Sasuke?” he urged. Sasuke glanced at him.

“I’m sorry, did you say something?” he asked in mock innocence.

“You BASTARD!” Naruto yelled and started punching his arm.

“Watch it dobe I’m driving, are you trying to kill us or something?” he said, but he didn’t really sound that mad. Naruto leaned back into his seat again and mumbled that Sasuke was an asshole. But he couldn’t help smiling, just a little. Sasuke didn’t deny that he had a point. Maybe there was some hope for them after all. Not that he liked the bastard or anything. Because he didn’t. Not at all.

 

**Part 8: Shaking hands**

 

When you’ve lived with someone for two and a half years, you tend to develop certain routines. For example: Naruto always made coffee for Sasuke in the morning. Sasuke always made sure that they had groceries at home, even buying ramen for Naruto (though under heavy protesting and only faced with the threat of no coffee). And Naruto was not allowed to ever try to fix anything broken in the apartment. They had also perfected the art of cooking together. Naruto cleaned the kitchen, set the table and did the dishes afterwards, and Sasuke made their food. This was because if Naruto cooked there would be a distinct lack of vegetables and other healthy ingredients, and if Sasuke did the dishes they annoyed him to the point that they sometimes mysteriously broke. Tonight was no different. Sasuke was busy making curry, and Naruto was busy reading a manga since he’d already finished his tasks for now, when the doorbell rang. Sasuke set his mouth into a disapproving line. The doorbell usually meant that annoying things were about to occur, such as Naruto’s friends visiting. He was irritated as it was already, but had managed to calm down a bit in the ritual of their dinner routine. Naruto, who had shot up at the ringing sound, now returned with Kiba, Ino and Sakura in tow. Oh joy. And they had brought – surprise! – alcohol. Sasuke glared at them.

“Hey Naruto, I think your wife doesn’t like us,” Kiba grinned, carelessly flopping down in one of the chairs. Ino and Sakura giggled.

“Aaw, that’s so cute, Sasuke as a wife!” Ino teased.

Sasuke ignored them and turned to Naruto saying:

“Moron, get your friends out or get no dinner.”

“But Sasukeee,” Naruto whined, “they’re just here to congratulate us! They won’t bother you I promise!”

“They already have. Now make them leave.” He had one hand on his hip, using the other to point with the large spoon he used to stir the curry. Apparently he looked very much like the wife Kiba had accused him to be, because both Naruto and his friends couldn’t help laughing. Kiba almost fell off his chair and Naruto bent over clutching his stomach. Sasuke didn’t appreciate it. The past two day’s frustration and annoyance were starting to get to him.

“Naruto,” he said in a voice that could freeze an exploding star in seconds, “I will count to three, and if they’re not out by then, You. Will. Be. Very. _Miserable_.”  

Naruto instantly straightened up and got serious. He didn’t want to ruin the possibly good start they’d had to this unexpected relationship. And he definitely didn’t want to spend two and a half years being miserable.

“Right, guys, you heard him. You can come back some other time.” Sasuke’s venomous glare made him flinch. “I mean, I’ll come _visit you_ some other time.” He quickly ushered his disappointed friends towards the front door.

“Dude, what the hell” Sasuke heard Kiba’s voice coming from the hallway. “Has Uchiha got you whipped or what? You never cared before, we just went to your room!”

“Yes, well, today’s a special case. And I think you need to lay low in front of him for a while.”

“Haha, is he pregnant or something?” Ino laughed.

“That would explain _both_ the prissy mood _and_ the sudden engagement!” Sakura added.

“Very funny,” Naruto grumbled and closed the door behind them. He sighed. He had a feeling Sasuke was not so much annoyed with his friends, as with his life situation in general. The bastard really needed to loosen up and stop taking things so goddamn seriously all the time. He went back to the kitchen, and found Sasuke glaring down into the curry. He didn’t exactly look happy.

When Naruto reached Sasuke and leaned his back against the counter the depressed man didn’t show any signs of recognition. Naruto frowned.

“Hey, teme,” he started.

Sasuke spared him a quick glance, and stirred the curry a little. If they had been real fiancés Naruto would have pulled Sasuke close, buried his head in the other’s neck and inhaled his scent deeply. Then he would have mumbled into the skin there until Sasuke smiled a little and hugged him back. But he didn’t. Because they weren’t. And it’s very hard to comfort someone when you can’t touch them, at least for a person like Naruto who always preferred actions over words. But he stretched out his hand the way you do when you want to shake someone’s hand.

“I know this is a fucked-up situation, and that you’re really angry. But like I said in the car we’re in this together, and being miserable doesn’t seem so hot to me. What do you say we have a truce and try to work with each other? No burning ramen, no disaster jokes, no hurtful comments. Just two dudes accidentally having to get married.” He looked seriously at Sasuke, trying to show that he was actually sorry for the mess he’d caused. Well, Sai helped too.

Sasuke took a long look at the blond moron he’d roomed with the past years, and would now have to spend time with on a much closer level. It was one thing to live together, a complete other to let another person into your private life. But Naruto had a point, just like he’d had in the car, and Sasuke didn’t hate the idiot so much that he wanted them to hurt each other. He was still angry though. But he closed his eyes and sighed in defeat, and when he opened them again there was annoyed resolution in them.

“Fine. There’s no point in being immature. It’s going to take a while for me to accept this though, so I’d appreciate it if you kept your friends away from me for the time being.” He shook Naruto’s hand.

“Good,” Naruto said relieved, and held Sasuke’s gaze and hand for another second. There were a lot of things they needed to talk about, but there were better times and places. After all, they had half a year left until the wedding. They had time.

 

**Part 9: Friend-zoned**

 

“Damn it, Sasuke, I know how to put on a tie!”

Naruto huffed and moved out of reach, Sasuke’s hands falling down to his sides. Then the raven started listing off the do’s and don’ts for their engagement party again. It was the third time that hour, and Naruto was starting to reach his limit. The past month they’d been able to act fairly normal around each other, just some minor incidents breaking their truce, like that time Kiba asked Sasuke why he didn’t limp more often. Now they were facing the entirety of the Uchiha family that was surprisingly large, and Sasuke wouldn’t stop fretting. He’d alternate between pacing back and forth in Naruto’s bedroom and trying to fix Naruto’s clothes or hair. All in all it was extremely annoying.

“Sasuke,” he said, trying to get the ranting man’s attention. “Sasuke!”

“What?” Sasuke said, finally stopping and glaring at Naruto. His hands were twitching as he zoned in on the tie Naruto was in the middle of fixing, but he refrained from commenting, something Naruto was thankful for.

“The way you’re going on and on about who to smile at, who to ignore, you’d think I enjoy embarrassing myself in front others.”

“ _Pass by quickly,_ not ignore,” Sasuke corrected, but sighed at the eye-roll Naruto responded with. “I’m just trying to make sure neither of us ends up dead tonight.”

“Yeah, that’s just it Sasuke,” Naruto said and pointed a finger at him. “You’re overreacting! Why the hell would anyone kill us?! If I do something stupid just blame it on my up-bringing and tell them you fell for my clumsy charm or something.”   

“You’re not exactly flattering yourself.”

“No, I’ll just leave all that to you, since you’re such a smooth-talker.”

Sasuke glared at him, but Naruto ignored it in favor of heading to the bathroom to check his appearance. Sasuke was already done of course, looking meticulously preened and, unfortunately, very handsome. Oh, the irony of being engaged to the sexiest man to walk their campus and not being allowed to even touch him. When Naruto had called Sasuke about the ad he’d put up about searching for a flat-mate, he’d laughed at Sasuke’s rule of absolutely no flirting with him allowed. He’d choked on that laughter when he’d met him, but Sasuke had said he was straight and Naruto respected that. That didn’t mean he didn’t have _dreams_ though, and now that people asked him every chance they could about his and Sasuke’s supposed sex life he found himself increasingly frustrated. How people actually believed them and didn’t call their bluff made him seriously question their intelligence though. Who the hell gets engaged only days after going home with someone else? And then bragging about it. _Really?_ People seemed to believe just about anything these days.

“Are you done yet?”

Naruto turned his head to huff at Sasuke. No wonder he was the only one that had survived living with the bastard. Apparently Sasuke had gone through flat-mates his first year here faster than Sakura changed nail polish.

“Chill down teme, we’ve got plenty of time.”

Another thing about Sasuke, he was such a time pessimist it wasn’t even funny. And he never, ever listened to Naruto. What a wonderful marriage this would be.

“When my parents say to show up at six, they expect you to be there five thirty.”

“Then why can’t they just say five thirty?”

Naruto attempted to walk past Sasuke so he could pick up his phone from its place on his bed, but Sasuke took a hold of his jacket and pulled him back.

“Let me fix that,” he mumbled.

Naruto rolled his eyes for probably the hundredth time that day but stayed put, letting Sasuke have his way with him. If only that meant something more fun than fixing a tie. Sasuke bit his lip in concentration, and Naruto would have thought it was rather cute if things hadn’t been what they were. It’s not that he and Sasuke didn’t get along, it’s just that they were terribly unsuited for each other. Anyone with at least one functioning brain cell could see that. He’d thought it was hilarious when his friends had said their relationship was a long time coming, but now it just made him wish he’d never answered that stupid ad.

“Done,” Sasuke finally said, smoothing out his collar before stepping back to critically look Naruto over.

“Thanks sweetie,” Naruto said with a sickly sweet smile, fluttering his eyelashes at the raven.

“Act like that and _I_ will kill you,” Sasuke muttered but apparently decided there wasn’t much more he could do, instead turning around to go put on his shoes.

“Hey bastard,” Naruto called after him, leaning against the door frame and trying not to admire Sasuke’s ass. When Sasuke turned around he continued. “What do we do if someone asks us to kiss?”

Sasuke looked at him as if he was out of his mind.

“Why would anyone ask that?”

“Oh come on, people always want cute pictures of the happy couple. It’ll be embarrassing if you look like you want to puke if you try to do it.”

Sasuke glared at him, then took four long strides, grabbing Naruto roughly by his jacket and smashing their lips together.

Naruto froze, staring into Sasuke’s mocking expression and thinking that his eyes were going to pop out of their sockets any second now. Then Sasuke released him and wiped his mouth with his sleeve, a blank expression on his face.

“Do I look like I want to puke?” he asked, and scoffed at Naruto’s look of pure, honest shock. “I’m not like one of those people who’s scared gayness spreads at touch. Kissing you is no different than kissing the back of my hand.”

“Wow, I don’t think I’ve ever felt so friend-zoned in my entire life,” Naruto answered after a few seconds of stunned silence, and somehow managed to make Sasuke snort. He huffed and crossed his arms with a pout. “You are such a bastard you know that?”

“I do.”

“It was a rhetorical question.”

“Can we leave now? Or do you need to put on some more make-up?”

“That was a lame joke,” Naruto said, but he still grinned. Maybe he and Sasuke weren’t as doomed as he’d thought.  


	3. Engagement parties are F-U-N

**Part 10: Doom/Let’s make a deal**

 

They were doomed. He just knew it. Doom capital D and he hoped there was a special place in hell for blond ramen-lovers. Sasuke reluctantly admitted to himself that he’d never felt so nervous and uncomfortable as he did right now, walking towards the Uchiha mansion with the dobe for the second time since the unfortunate day he decided to not finally get rid of his annoying flat-mate and thus putting him in this situation. And the moron was holding his arm! No amount of glaring or complaining had convinced the blond to let go, because apparently, fiancés were prone to touching. He’d told Naruto that as an Uchiha, Sasuke was very much prone to _not_ touch other people, but he’d just snorted and told him to suck it up. That innocent-looking blond was such a bully.

“Oh come on bastard, I know no one’s expecting you to look happy, but at least try not to look like a suffering emo-princess.”

Sasuke cast Naruto a frosty glare, but otherwise ignored him. Naruto might not have enough brain capacity to realize the potential danger, but Sasuke did, and he also knew his family. Deceptively nice bastards they were.

“Unless prissy and depressed is considered the epitome of happiness in your family, but your mom smiled at me last time so I doubt it.”

Sasuke sighed as the dobe kept talking to himself. Naruto was like a constant worry, always surprising you when you thought you finally had him in check, and Sasuke didn’t like being surprised. How he’d managed to survive the past years together, he blamed that on Naruto’s ability to make coffee and the fact that finding a new flat-mate was even more annoying. At least the blond had stayed true to his word and not flirted with him. He had a feeling that having Naruto pursuing you would be a rather exhausting experience, since he had a knack for never quitting no matter how stupid the idea was. And going after Sasuke was definitely stupid.

“Hey.”

Sasuke suddenly noticed that they’d stopped, and Naruto was trying to get his attention.

“What,” he asked, putting as much suffering into his voice as he possibly could.

Naruto huffed and pouted at him, then he got that mischievous glint in his eyes that spelled trouble, but before Sasuke had time to run and hide Naruto had pulled him into a big hug. He would have protested, but there really was no space for air in his lungs. He stared at the snowy landscape surrounding his parent’s premises, wondering idly if this was how he’d end his days, squeezed to death by the cause for his depression. At least his family hadn’t had time to get to him.

Naruto eased up his hold a little, and Sasuke could feel his breath on his ear.

“Let’s make a deal, Sasuke,” Naruto whispered, amusement and too much smugness in his voice. “You want me to behave, so I will, but if _you_ don’t stop acting like a drenched kitten there will be consequences.”

Sasuke knitted his eyebrows and pursed his lips.

“Calling me a drenched kitten, what kind of death wish do you have?” he whispered back.

“Heh,” Naruto grinned. “It’s like this; every time you act like it’s the end of the world I’m going to touch you. In public. All lovey-dovey and shit. _And_ since we’re supposed to be in love you won’t be able to protest. Also, the worse you act the worse I’ll touch you.”

“Are you threatening me dobe?”

Sasuke turned his head a little, not thinking about the fact that Naruto still had his lips to his ear and thus their faces were close enough for their noses to bump. He scowled at the moron for not moving back, and Naruto scowled right back, starting a staring contest.

“I’m sure you’re going to punish me somehow if I don’t behave, so it’s just fair isn’t it?” Naruto finally said, looking like he was trying hard not to react to the fact that Sasuke’s face was so close, but it was easy to catch the darting glances towards his mouth.

For a few seconds they just stood like that, Sasuke uncomfortably squeezed between Naruto’s arms, their thick winter coats suddenly feeling too warm, and the air they breathed out mixing in white puffs like smoke.

“You promised that you wouldn’t flirt with me,” was the only thing Sasuke could think of saying, his voice accusing and Naruto immediately making an indignant face.

“Bastard, who’d wanna flirt with you anyway?! You’re such an ice-prick it’s no wonder your family is so exaggeratedly happy about you getting engaged.”

They glared at each other, freezing the already cold air between them. Damn that dobe is so annoying! A door opening broke them out of their glaring contest, and they both turned their heads to see Itachi raising an eyebrow at them.

“Are you going to come inside or do you need another moment?” he said, giving them a pointed look.

Sasuke shoved Naruto off himself, stomping towards his brother and feeling very pissed off. If Naruto so much as _thought_ of pulling a stunt like that again, their truce was definitely over. Just because Sasuke had kissed him it didn’t mean he could touch him however he wanted. There was such a thing as personal space after all. But as he walked past his brother, ignoring the amusement radiating off of him, he sighed in half resignation. It was probably better to act a little happier, who knows what the moron included in the word ‘touching’?

 

**Part 11: Body contact**

 

Oh Naruto was having so much fun! Finally he could get the bastard back for all the pent-up sexual frustration he’d suffered from the past month. Granted, Sasuke was acting less constipated now in front of his relatives, but there were still lots of instances where he forgot himself and Naruto pounced on him (figuratively speaking of course).

“Aww Sasuke, it’s so good to see you finally tying the knot with someone, we’ve been worried you know” some kind of aunt or whatever cooed, her husband simply standing by her side and looking as uncomfortable as only an Uchiha could faced with cutesy stuff.

“Why thank you, it makes me _so_ happy that everyone in Sasuke’s family is so embracing,” Naruto answered with a charming smile, making the old lady literally swoon.

Sasuke offered a _very_ strained smile, and Naruto took that as his cue for a little more body contact. His arm was already around the silently protesting man, and now he tightened his hold to bring Sasuke into a half-hug, pressing their cheeks together briefly as he continued to smile brightly. At this point, Sasuke had given up on stiffening at the touch, opting to tolerate it in public and plotting ways to slaughter the blond later on in private. Or at least hurt him.

They exchanged another short pleasantry with the old woman and her stoic husband before moving on, Naruto’s grip on Sasuke triumphantly smug, ignoring the way his body tried to sneakily interpret this in a more intimate way.

“You think this is funny huh?” Sasuke hissed, keeping his indifferent face but wishing he could just beat some sense into the dobe. Deal my ass.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Naruto replied innocently, steering his reluctant fiancé towards a table to refill their glasses. “I mean, we’re getting presents, how is that _not_ fun?”

Sasuke scowled at him, but quickly caught himself when another annoying-to-death old lady stopped them to chat. Seriously, how many old women was he related to anyway? He had a feeling barely half of them actually were.

Once they’d gotten their drinks refilled, Naruto suddenly found himself being dragged out of the large living room (or was it a ballroom?), the raven pulling him along radiating restrained anger. Damn, he wasn’t supposed to get punished until they got home again! Ignoring how dirty that sounded he followed Sasuke over into the relative shadows to the side of one of the large stairways. After checking that no one else was in the immediate area, Sasuke put their glasses on the floor and grabbed him by the collar of his (paid by Sasuke) suit.

“Ooh I didn’t think you were that desperate to have me up against a wall,” Naruto teased, but quickly shut up at the look of pure evil Sasuke sent him, forcing a shiver down his spine.

“Again, you think this is funny don’t you? It’s bad enough all my relatives baby me, you don’t have to fucking encourage them!”

Sasuke gritted his teeth, glaring for another few seconds and tightening his grip.

“Soo, what you meant by possibly dying tonight was actually your pride being in the danger zone?” Naruto asked, a lopsided grin accompanying his teasing. If it was about Sasuke’s pride, then this was just too awesome to be scared.

Sasuke pushed his entire body against Naruto, pressing the air out of his lungs and his glare intensifying. Oh shit Naruto was starting to feel turned on. Sasuke must have noticed, because he narrowed his eyes and swallowed the words he’d been about to say, changing his mind. Before he’d had time to come up with something more fitting to say to the blond idiotic empty-headed _moron_ he was currently too close to though, he heard two voices drifting closer that made his eyes widen in (he’d never admit it) fear.

“I swear I saw them going this way,” one voice said.

“Don’t you think Sasuke looked _so sexy_ in that suit?” the other voice answered, adding a squeal.

“Shit,” Sasuke cursed, frantically trying to come up with an escape plan, but they were trapped with nowhere to run as the voices drew near them.

“I prefer him in his swim trunks,” the first voice replied, the adoration obvious.

Finding no solution, Sasuke stared at the tan face complete with blue eyes laughing their asses off and made an impulse decision.

As the girls rounded the corner and caught sight of them, their irritating voices suddenly stopped as they themselves stopped dead in their tracks. The sight that met them was that of two men, one of them their wettest dream, the other a since recently deadly enemy, kissing. And they weren’t _just_ kissing; Sasuke’s hands held Naruto’s head in a death grip, tugging at his hair painfully, his tongue shoved down his throat and body pressed flush against him. The blond was hugging the small of his back desperately, eagerly responding to the kiss and letting Sasuke roam his mouth with barely any resistance.

If Uchiha Sasuke kissed you you didn’t exactly stop him and start a fight over dominance.

Two heavy thuds was the cue Sasuke had been waiting for, and with a gasp of relief he ripped himself out of Naruto’s grip, stepping quite a few steps backwards and wiping his mouth harshly, the look on his face a mixture between shock, disgust, feeling like an idiot for doing something like that, and a tiny tiny blush whose existence he’d vehemently deny ‘til the day he died.

Well fuck.     

 

**Part 12: No way in hell**

 

Naruto clutched the wall behind him and breathed heavily. Thoughts flew through his mind, the one more confused than the next.

_Did Sasuke just? Are those girls dead? Can a heart really burst out of a chest? Damn best kiss of MY LIFE! What the fuck just happened?!_

His eyes kept moving between Sasuke and the two girls on the floor, something looking frighteningly much like blood streaming from their noses. Sasuke looked like a deer caught in headlights; Naruto had never seen him so shocked and speechless. Hell, he’d never felt this shocked and speechless himself!

“I told them not to look for you, but girls never listen do they?” a voice suddenly interrupted their crisis, heaving a sigh.

Both Naruto and Sasuke turned to look at Sai. He didn’t seem fazed by the two girls in a lifeless heap, in fact he looked (was that even possible?) fairly pleased with himself.

“It’s a shame I didn’t get here in time to watch though. I got interrupted by your mother Sasuke, she said it’s time for cake.”

When neither of the happy couple answered him he shrugged and turned around to walk back again.

Naruto blinked. Getting kissed by Sasuke had pretty much fried his brain, that much was clear to him. And Sasuke’s body pressed up against him like that… He shuddered lightly. At least he knew what he was masturbating to tonight.

“I guess we’d better head back then,” Sasuke said, his voice all perfectly calm as he brushed some imaginary dust off his pants, looking very much like he hadn’t just kissed the living daylights out of Naruto.

“What, no explanation? Just kissing me like that and then everything’s back to normal?”

When Sasuke threw him a ‘shut-the-fuck-up’ glare he continued, adding a pointing finger.

“Because there is no way in hell you can say that was like kissing the back of your hand!”

They glared at each other, Naruto refusing to leave before he’d gotten a good explanation and Sasuke reluctant to talk to him at all.

“Well it was obviously because of those annoying girls,” Sasuke finally said, huffing and crossing his arms.

Naruto gaped at him. The fuck? He slowly tried to calm himself down, reminding his body that they were in Sasuke’s parents house, and beating the bastard to a bloody pulp probably wouldn’t make him look good in front of said parents. He closed his eyes and swallowed before sighing and opening them again.

“Sasuke, I’m gay right?”

“Hn.”

Naruto took that as a yes.

“And you’re a pretty hot guy.”

“Hn.”

“Fine you’re a sexy as hell bastard, but my _point,_ you self-absorbed diva, is that kissing me like that while simultaneously telling me you’re straight and want nothing intimate whatsoever with me, isn’t exactly _nice_.” He scowled at the faintly guilty-looking raven. “And if you ever do it again I’m having your ass whether you like it or not, and yes I mean that literally.”

Sasuke flinched and was about to retaliate when his mother came around the corner, telling them to come eat some cake. A muttered ‘How many times do I have to tell them I _don’t eat cake_ ’ was ignored, Naruto excitedly skipping over to Mikoto to ask something about it. The raven tried to get the taste of blond out of his mouth, he was quite pissed at himself for doing that, and no not because Naruto didn’t think it was _nice_. Seriously, considering the amount of times Naruto had most likely kissed someone another kiss shouldn’t get him so worked up.

Picking up their forgotten glasses from the floor he trudged after his mother and the loud-mouthed surprisingly good kisser. He stopped. What the hell? Shaking his head to get rid of the weird thoughts he started walking again. Oh Naruto was going to get him killed, he just knew it.

 

**Part 13: Save me!**

 

Naruto chatted with Sasuke’s family as he munched on his cake, trying very very hard to not look at Sasuke or think about the kiss. It didn’t work so well. At least Sasuke’s family was acting nicely, just making small talk about this and that. He really couldn’t see what had Sasuke so scared, or well the pride thing he could understand but that dying thing…

Finishing his strawberry and lime cake (it was the best cake ever) he suddenly found himself arm in arm with the lady Uchiha, an innocent smile on her face. Nothing wrong with that. Completely oblivious to Sasuke’s suspicion and nervousness at Naruto being led away by his grandmother, he followed the old woman into the house. Apparently she had something to show him.

“Naruto, I don’t know if I’ve expressed how happy I am to you,” she said as they walked surprisingly fast up the stairs. “Sasuke is my little darling, I’ve always worried how he’d manage taking care of a wife and a family. But everything certainly turned out to the best don’t you agree?”

Naruto returned her smile, thinking that he was really lucky Sasuke couldn’t hear them. He had a feeling he wouldn’t take the hint that Naruto would be the man in the relationship very well.

“And I must say he found such a handsome man, that’s my Sasuke for you! There are too many false women out there who’ve tried to take advantage of him, if only I’d known he already had you! But secrecy is all part of being an Uchiha I suppose…” she trailed off, patting his arm and leading them down a side corridor, less lighted but even more ostentatious.

Naruto was starting to feel nervous. He hoped she’d never find out about the joke thing, if not because Sasuke thought she’d kill them then at least to let her keep that happiness at having her darling Sasuke well taken cared of.   

“Oh, no need to be nervous sweetie, if Sasuke has chosen you then you have nothing to worry about. After all, there’s no such thing as a divorce for Uchihas!”

Okay, Naruto was panicking now. No divorce? Then how the hell were they going to get out of this mess?! And how the hell would he survive _the rest of his life_ with the bastard, not to mention without sex!

“Which reminds me, Sasuke never told me how you got together?”

She looked at him expectantly, but somehow he could feel an underlying tone that he better answer this or else. He swallowed, his throat suddenly dry.

“Umm, well, it’s not that dramatic really, I’m sure you know we’ve been flat-mates for the past two and a half years, so I guess you could say we just grew on each other, or something like that,” he mumbled, rubbing the back of his neck and keeping his eyes averted.

“That’s nice,” she mumbled, steering him down a corridor to the left and stopping in front of a large dark brown wooden door. “So here’s my little collection, I’m sure you’ll appreciate it,” she said, and Naruto swore he could see some sort of mischievousness in her eyes.

She opened the door, and behind it was – another door. Made of steel. With some kind of eye scan thingy and code lock. Naruto was starting to wish Sasuke was there, and it probably doesn’t have to be mentioned that there were very few occasions Naruto did. After the grandmother had gone through security the door slowly swung open, and lights flickered on. Oh god, what could she possibly have behind a door like that? Some kind of torture chamber maybe? Was she going to extort information from Naruto in a painful, excruciating manner? Except he didn’t have any info so she’d just kill him!

“Come in Naruto, you can’t see anything from over there.”

Feeling his palms sweaty and his heart beating rapidly as his imagination ran wild, Naruto hesitantly stepped into the room. He blinked. And felt like getting the hell out of there. He didn’t even care if Sasuke thought he was unmanly or anything, the old lady had a freaking _huge_ collection of weapons! He slowly took in the items, his eyes trailing from left to right and up to down.

There were guns, rifles, knives, weird gadgets, army clothes and uniforms, something that looked like a pilot helmet from World War II, and was that a sword?

“What do you think?” Sasuke’s short, white-haired and perfectly _normal–_ looking old grandmother asked.

“I-it’s…” Naruto started, having to stop and clear his throat as well as fighting down another urge to run. “Very impressive,” he choked out at last.

Lady Uchiha looked pleased, seeming to take his fright as simply being impressed.

“Most of this belonged to my father, but I seem to have inherited his interest in war memorabilia.” She walked over to a sword on display within a glass container, watching it almost fondly. “This sword belonged to an officer in the battle at Waterloo. It was my father’s most treasured item.”

Naruto didn’t know if he should just keep feeling freaked out, or challenge fate and walk closer. Remembering that he was Uzumaki Naruto, and never backed down from a challenge, he slowly walked forwards, eyeing the sword with apprehension.

“There’s an inscription on the handle, here, see? With the officer’s name.”

Naruto nodded, not really able to make out the faint inscription but pretending he did. Better stay on her good side.   

“That reminds me; Sasuke told me your parents couldn’t make it today since they don’t live around here. I very much hope to meet them at least once before the ceremony. It’s simply not polite if I make all the preparations without even talking to the groom’s mother.”

She smiled at Naruto, and he automatically smiled back, mind still on the sword in front of him. Then his brain caught up with her words. His… parents? Oh god his parents! He hadn’t even thought about telling them about the engagement, and he’d talked to them just yesterday night! He stared at the grey but still shiny sword, panicking for the second time in that room. He almost wished Sasuke’s grandmother would use it to end his life. Because his mother was going to kill him when she found out. And he was supposed to spend Christmas with them, which was just a week away.

“Of course,” he heard himself say. “They’re so happy.”

If the old woman caught the despair in his voice she didn’t show it, simply told him they’d best get back to the others, ushering him out of the weapon’s collection. Oh how Naruto wished he could stay there forever!

 

**Part 14: Can we go home now?**

 

The moment Naruto and his grandmother had disappeared around the corner, his family underwent a complete transformation and assaulted him with equal amounts of annoying questions and supposedly humoristic jabs. It got to the point where he seriously contemplated running after the idiot, but he had a feeling his family would just find that adorable, and no Sasuke didn’t enjoy being called adorable. He’d had enough of that during his childhood. It’s bad enough his mother had dressed him up in cute outfits, and his dad hadn’t allowed him to take part in any ‘dangerous’ sports like Itachi could. Over the years he’d come to the conclusion that his parents had actually hoped for a daughter to spoil, and since their family lacked female children he’d been forced into the role.

He thanked whatever deity was out there that they’d at least refrained from dressing him like a girl.

Ignoring his mother correcting his tie (that didn’t need any fixing dammit) and feeling like he wanted to scream and punch his brother’s teasing face in, it was with a sigh of relief that he saw Naruto coming back. If only the blond knew what his family was really like! Then he noticed the unusually pale face, and all his suspicions of what his grandmother might have possibly taken Naruto aside to do resurfaced. Flicking his mother’s hands away he hurriedly walked over to the idiot before he reached the rest of his family, his eye twitching when he heard the ‘Aaw’ his mother released at seeing him so seemingly eager to reach his fiancé’s side again. _What did I ever do to deserve this treatment?_ he thought dully to himself _._

“You okay?” he asked the blond who was looking at him with panic in his eyes.

“Oh my god Sasuke I haven’t told my parents! I wish your grandmother really _had_ killed me with that scary sword” Naruto exclaimed in a hoarse whisper, gripping the front of his jacket and shaking him. “What am I supposed to _doooo_?” 

“So she showed you the weaponry,” Sasuke concluded.

“The wha- you call it _a_ _weaponry_? That’s a fucking _death chamber_ , that’s what it is!” Naruto said, voice still uncharacteristically low and hands still gripping the jacket. “Can we go home now?” he added, pleading puppy eyes accentuating the request.

“I thought you were having fun,” Sasuke commented evilly, smirking at the dobe’s scowl.

“I hate you teme! And if I die I’ll come back to haunt you forever!”

“Yeah yeah whatever,” Sasuke said and loosened the hands clutching at him. Then he smirked again. “Who’s the one looking like a drenched kitten _now_?”   

He glared when the stupid blond kicked his shin but didn’t have time to say anything since his lovely brother had walked up to them.

“I see you’re as lovey-dovey as ever, but people are starting to leave so you better get in position to say good-bye and thank them for the gifts.”

When two pairs of eyes shot poison arrows at him he simply smiled innocently, the same way he’d smiled when Sasuke was five and he’d been told that if he kissed a frog he’d get magical powers. Sasuke still hadn’t managed to find and burn all copies of the picture Itachi had taken of it. The asshole.

But he sighed and dragged Naruto over to the hallway where a few people had already gathered and waited for them. He squared his shoulders and prepared himself for the onslaught of kisses on the cheek and cooing voices and all other possible types of attacks on his pride that were about to start. He _really_ wondered how the hell there could be so many annoying women in his family, and why the hell his parents would have wanted him to be one of them. Sometimes he actually wondered how it was possible that he was straight. Then he glanced at Naruto, who seemed to have forgotten about his problems and were now grinning brightly at his relatives. Right. Because if he wasn’t straight, he might have ended up _liking_ the irritating bouncy ball with too much energy and that silly smile. Yes, thank heavens he was straight.

Any small protesting voices were quickly squashed within his mind. They simply couldn’t exist.   


	4. It's uh... complicated

**Part 15: Parental rage**

 

Naruto sighed. He was sitting on the train on his way home, dreading the awaiting meeting with his parents. They’d arrived the night before from some obscure place where they’d helped a friend do research on endangered species, and as usual they would spend Christmas at his godmother Tsunade’s place. If Sasuke hadn’t told him that his sweet little grandmother used to be a secret agent he might have contemplated just hiding in her basement for a few years faking his death. Except he probably wouldn’t have to fake it since his mother would happily help him to the other side after finding out about the engagement. The problem was, should he tell them the truth or not?

He moved his gaze from the snowy scenery to the ring still adorning his finger. Kiba was on the train with him, so taking it off wasn’t an option sadly. At least he’d given a sulking Sasuke a goodbye kiss at the train station. He snickered at the memory. But then he sighed again. Sasuke had acted the same as usual the past few days, which was like a bastard and not caring at all about that make-out session they’d accidentally had. Naruto was starting to wonder how many accidents they could survive before one of them just killed the other.

He glanced at Kiba, who was sleeping in the opposite seat. If only he could be as care-free again! He nervously checked the time on his phone: one hour left. He slumped further down in his seat, watching the darkening sky outside.

When the train arrived at the platform in the small town two young men stepped out, one of them eagerly searching for his family, the other wishing he could just get back on the train again. Naruto clenched and unclenched his hands, the wind was bitingly cold but he didn’t bother putting on his gloves. And there, easily spotted against the few other people having business on the train station with her bright red hair, was Naruto’s mother Kushina. A few steps behind and following with an amused expression was his dad, the same yellow hair Naruto had half hidden underneath a white hat.

He tried to hide behind Kiba, but since his childhood friend had no idea of his predicament he shouted loudly and waved, having spotted Naruto’s parents a second later than him. He could see his mother’s expression brightening, a wide smile making its way onto her face, and despite his worry he couldn’t help but smile himself. He did miss his parents, even if he was used to not seeing them very often.

“Naruto! Oh my sweet sweet little baby boy how _are_ you?” she said, loud enough to be heard even inside the waiting room as she squeezed the air out of him.

“Agh stop it mom!” he wheezed out, trying to glare at his friend who was snickering at him. Well, Naruto would pay him back when _his_ mother found them.

   “But I haven’t seen you in forever!” she exclaimed, stepping back to look him over. “And you look even more handsome, look at him Minato! No wonder you’re so popular with the boys!” Then she narrowed her eyes critically. “Although I must say I’m not so pleased with these rumors of you sleeping around.”

“What! Who said that?! It’s all lies!”

He glared suspiciously at Kiba who was busy inspecting his nails. Through his gloves.

“You asshole! Stop saying stuff like that about me just because you’re jealous! And to my mom of all people!”

Kiba waved at him to calm him down, which didn’t help at all.  

“Relax, besides, _now_ those rumors don’t exactly apply.”

He grinned and wiggled his eyebrows at Naruto, who had frozen in fear. Telling his parents about the engagement wasn’t something he wanted to do out in the open like this. No, he wanted to do it much much later, preferably never but at least after getting safely home. Maybe the second he’d stepped on the train to go back again and over the phone. Yeah that sounded like a good moment.

“What do you mean?” his mother asked in a suspicious tone. Why that would make her so suspicious Naruto had no idea.

“Haven’t you _told_ them?” Kiba asked, watching Naruto in surprise.

Naruto could understand him. Usually when you got engaged the parents would be first to know. He squirmed in discomfort.

“Umm, well, you know, it’s always nicer to tell them in person right?” That was a perfectly plausible reason right? Right?

Kiba grinned evilly. Oh no. No no no no _no_!

Then his _ex_ -friend grabbed his left hand and held it up, waving it in front of his parents’ curious faces. Naruto swallowed, seeing his life pass by as he counted down the seconds before it would end.

First, his parents didn’t notice the ugly ring, but when they did, both pairs of eyes widened in shock, and then, in Kushina’s case, in rage.

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU’VE GOTTEN ENGAGED WITHOUT TELLING ME!!!??? We haven’t even _met_ the guy!” She grabbed the front of his jacket and started shaking him madly, her red hair almost bristling. “How long have you been lying to us?! We’re your parents god damn it! You better have a good explanation or I swear you’re sleeping out in the snow tonight!”

Naruto almost cried like a manga character, sending his dad pleading eyes but for once, his dad looked almost as upset as his mom. Kiba was _so_ not getting a present this year.

 

**Part 16: Spilling the beans**

 

Awkward. That is exactly how Naruto felt right now, sitting on the couch in Tsunade’s living room and sweating nervously, four pairs of eyes staring at him expectantly. He’d managed to convince his mother that it was better if he told her at home, giving her a conspiratorial look and since his mother loved secrets and mysteries, she reluctantly agreed. His dad had simply hugged him and told him it was great to see him again, and then they’d spent the short car ride discussing their latest travels.

His godmother had reacted pretty much the same as his mother, except instead of shaking him she’d smacked him over the head, but she did yell at him too. And Jiraiya had just sighed and wondered for the thousandth time what he had against boobs.

So now he was sitting on the couch and silently panicking in his mind. All the time he’d had to think through how he would handle this had obviously gone to waste. Was there even a way to get out of this alive? Although, if he died Sasuke would have one problem less. The thought of Sasuke snickering evilly made him straighten up, meeting the eyes of his family defiantly.

“I pulled a prank on Sasuke and we ended up having to get married,” he mumbled, crossing his arms and trying to not look as stupid as he felt.

Silence. Then…

“What the fuck do you mean a prank!?”

“Oh that is too good, brat!”

“Wait, isn’t Sasuke that rich emo roommate of yours?”

The shouting went on, everybody joining in except his dad. Somehow his dad always kept his calm, so Naruto tried again to send him the puppy eyes.  

“Alright everyone, calm down, I’m sure there’s a good explanation for this,” he said, silencing the others with his raised palms.

“Thanks dad,” Naruto sighed.

“Like hell there’s a good explanation for this! What do you mean you’re getting married because of a prank!”

Well, his mother had never been one to listen particularly much to Minato.

“I just can’t believe this! I didn’t raise my only son to get married on a whim!” She pointed a finger accusingly at said son. “That Sasuke doesn’t know who he’s messing with!”

“Oh just shut up mom! Sasuke’s a nice guy, and it’s my fault so don’t bring him into this!”

It was quite obvious who Naruto had inherited the strength of his voice from. Minato hurriedly pushed him back into the couch, sending Kushina a silencing look. If these two started a shouting match then everyone would be deaf by the end of it.

“I _said,_ calm down.” He paused to give everyone a stern look. “Now, why don’t you take this from the beginning Naruto?”

So Naruto started talking, reluctantly at first, but speeding up and almost stumbling over the words at the end.

“And his grandmother practically said we can’t divorce! I’m so screwed,” he groaned at last, burying his face in his hands and cursing his prank-genes.

The others were quiet for a while, then his mother started talking again, this time calmer and sounding more like a reasonable, comforting mother.

“Naruto, do you… like him?” she asked.

“No, yes, I don’t know,” he mumbled through his hands. “Sometimes.”

“Well, the way you talk unnecessarily much about him every time we meet sort of indicates you do,” his dad added helpfully.

Naruto spread his fingers to glare at his parents.

“I _do not_ talk about Sasuke that much.”

“Yes you do,” Jiraiya said, grinning teasingly. “I’ve just been waiting for the moment you’d get hearts in your eyes and all my hopes of ever turning you straight would vanish.”

“For the last fucking time I’m gay!”

“Language Naruto! But let’s get this straight,” Kushina said, ignoring the amused snort Jiraiya released. “You like Sasuke-“

“I don’t.”

“But he claims to be straight-“

“Ha! If that pretty boy is straight then I’m gay!”

“Shut up Jiraiya! Anyway the problem is he’s giving you mixed signals right?”

“He’s giving me death signals that’s what,” Naruto said in a depressed voice.

Cue four pitying pairs of eyes.

“Aargh whatever! I did something stupid and now I’m paying for it! Just leave me alone!” Naruto suddenly exclaimed and stood up before storming out of the room.

“Wow,” Kushina whispered. When the others looked at her questioningly, she added, “I think my little baby boy is growing up.”

 

**Part 17: Dreams**

 

_He laid on his bed, and above him was blond, two blue eyes, blurry but somehow clearer than anything else in the faint light._

_“Sasuke.”_

_The whisper made his throat constrict, he was breathing shakily, unsure of where his own body started and the other’s ended._

_He felt as if he was underwater, moving sluggishly, a touch on his cheek as soft as billowing seaweed._

_His heart was pounding._

Sasuke woke up with a start, taking a deep breath and shaking sleep off him desperately. It had to _stop_ , these weird dreams that he had, and he’d like to say there’d been an increase in them after his so called engagement, but no he had them as often as usual these past two years.

He groaned, rolling onto his stomach and hugging his pillow. He should also stop waking up every morning, nothing good seemed to come out of it.

 He stared out into the dark room, for a second imagining it was the one in his (and Naruto’s) apartment, but knowing logically that it was the one in his parent’s house, his old room. As always he’d gone home over the break, even if it wasn’t far from his own place. Honestly, he could just as easily have lived at home and commuted to school from there, but he liked the thought of taking care of himself. And no, having a flat-mate had _not_ been his own idea. Why his parents thought that it was safer to have a stranger living with him rather than living alone he’d never understand.

As always when he wasn’t careful his mind strayed to thoughts of that blond annoyance. Letting out a dismissing sound he twisted the sheets with one hand underneath the pillow, closing his eyes again. If only it wasn’t so _quiet_. Since when had he gotten used to having sound around him? Naruto laughing at the TV, Naruto shouting obscenities at his homework, Naruto making coffee while making fun of his ruffled just-woke-up appearance.

“Stupid dobe,” he mumbled, but then let out a sigh, opening his eyes and moving onto his back again, one arm above his head and the pillow on his stomach.

The past few days here he’d spent as occupied as possible, being more social than his family had ever seen him. Because lately, thinking only managed to make him frustrated. And even if his family couldn’t shut up about Naruto, it was much easier to pretend he didn’t care about the moron when they kept commenting on how cute they had looked together, as illogical as it sounded.

Because deep down it was obvious that he and Naruto were friends, and Sasuke didn’t want to admit that. He fumbled around on his night stand for his phone and earphones, putting on some music to block all thoughts out and maybe go back to sleep.

Cue the only song on his phone added by Naruto being first on the play list.

Aargh he was just never getting rid of that, that, orange-loving, ramen-eating, coffee-making, PDA-ing _stupid_ Naruto! The next time Naruto kissed him he would punch him, in public or not!

He breathed slowly, in and out, calming himself down. If Naruto caused him to fail his last exam because he couldn’t stop beating himself up over that kissing thingy they’d done at the engagement party he’d never forgive him.

There was only one good thing, and one thing only about this.

That _at least_ he didn’t have to deal with some fangirling fangirly girl for a wife.

But that was the _only_ thing, and he was sticking to that.

 

**Part 18: Jealous?**

 

Naruto unlocked the door to his apartment, stepped inside and noticed Sasuke’s shoes, meaning he was already back.

“Hey bastard!” he shouted, dropping his bag on the floor and taking off his shoes.

No answer. But he didn’t expect one; Sasuke never shouted unless it was absolutely necessary, and Naruto wasn’t sure he’d do it even then.

He found him in the kitchen, reading the morning paper even though it was closer to lunch, sparing Naruto a look and then returning to his reading.

“The least you could do is greet me back,” Naruto muttered, sinking down in the other chair and running a hand through his hair tiredly. He’d gotten up way too early in order to catch the morning train.

“Hn.”

Naruto scowled. Really, you’d think they hadn’t known each other for more than two and a half years.

“So how was Christmas?”

Sasuke merely shrugged.

“Well mine was okay.”

A few moments of silence.

“I told my parents.”

At least Sasuke looked up at this, lowering the paper and expecting him to keep talking.

“They got pretty mad.”

When Sasuke only raised one eyebrow he continued with a huff.

“First because of getting engaged without telling them, and then because I told them the truth.”

“You told them _the truth_?”

“What, you can’t expect me to lie to my parents, besides it’s not like they’re going to call your grandmother and tell her it’s all fake. But yeah they’re kinda mad about that.”

“ _I’m_ lying to _my_ parents.”

“So?”

They stared at each other for a few seconds, Sasuke obviously thinking Naruto was an idiot and Naruto obviously thinking Sasuke was one. Then Naruto sighed, standing up and walking over to the fridge to search for something edible. Thankfully Sasuke had already gone grocery shopping.

“So when did you arrive?”

“Last night.”

“Huh. Do you want coffee?”

“Do I look like someone who wants coffee?”

Sasuke’s sarcastic tone made Naruto snort. Then he walked over to the raven, thinking he really ought to pay the bastard back a little for making his family hit him so much.

“I’d say you look like someone who wants a…”

He leaned in, smiling with mischief, and before Sasuke had time to react (he was pretty slow in the morning without coffee) he kissed him.

He had his lips pressed against Sasuke’s for maybe a second, then he jumped backwards and hurriedly increased the distance between them, grinning widely at the murderous-looking raven.

“I should punch you for that,” Sasuke muttered, glaring when Naruto chuckled.

“But if you punch me you won’t get any coffee,” the blond replied in a sing-song voice.

Then he turned his back on his sulking fiancé and started on the coffee.

 

xxx

 

The day after, Naruto and Sasuke were heading out for lunch, they’d meet up with some friends and Sasuke had reluctantly agreed to go. Although, Naruto had to admit it had gotten a lot easier to convince him the past half year than before when he’d almost had to literally drag his flat-mate around. He guessed Sasuke had come back after summer break and figured that it was just easier to give up and let himself get dragged around. He’d probably deny it if asked though.

Since Sasuke was a lucky bastard their apartment was fairly close to the university, so they didn’t have to walk far. Eating there wasn’t exactly Naruto’s first choice, but since most of his friends lived on campus and it was more trouble going into the city they’d settled for being lazy. As they turned onto the road leading up to their university Naruto heard someone calling his name from behind.

“Gaara?” he asked in surprise when he’d turned around, the red-head finally catching up to them.

“Hello Naruto, it’s been a while.”

“Yeah I haven’t seen you since high school! What’re you doing _here_?”

Gaara shrugged, looking as impassive as ever, the kanji for love still on his forehead.

“Just visiting my brother over the holidays, I’m leaving tomorrow.”

“Oh really? Then you have to join us for lunch!”

Sasuke clearing his throat made him remember that he hadn’t been walking alone, but he might as well have been since the pale bastard had barely said a word on the way.

“I almost forgot, Sasuke this is Gaara, Gaara Sasuke,” he said, introducing them to each other.

Sasuke watched Gaara without interest, thinking that this was just another one of Naruto’s old annoying friends.

“We used to date in high school,” Gaara then said, stretching out his hand for Sasuke to shake.

“Is that so?” Sasuke asked quietly, his eyes narrowing slightly.

“Oh, are you two…?” Gaara trailed off, looking at Naruto.

Naruto laughed nervously, rubbing his neck and nodding.

“We’re kind of engaged actually.”

Sasuke scowled at him but was ignored.

“ _Engaged_?” Gaara asked in disbelief. “That’s hard to believe. I mean, you broke up with me because you didn’t want to commit.”

He stared at Sasuke with a contemplative, almost hostile look.

“Hey! It’s because we were moving to different cities, I didn’t really think that would work out,” Naruto defended himself.

“Well, I’m not really that happy with my university right now, I’m actually partly here because I’m thinking about transferring next semester.”

Sasuke didn’t miss the hidden suggestion in Gaara’s voice. Suddenly, he found himself feeling inexplicably hostile.

“What a shame, you’ll miss the wedding then,” he said, comfortably putting an arm over Naruto’s shoulders as if he used to do that every day.

He could feel Naruto’s surprised eyes on him, but didn’t break eye contact with Naruto’s ex. He convinced himself he was only doing this to keep up the façade, since an Uchiha wouldn’t take lightly to people threatening their relationship.

“You’re getting married already?”

Sasuke met Gaara’s surprise with a haughty look.

“I hardly think three years is soon.”

Gaara gave Naruto a questioning look, probably thinking of the pictures of Naruto partying he’d seen on Facebook, and the distinct lack of Sasuke on them.

“We’ve had an, uh, open relationship. Yeah, a secret open relationship,” Naruto nervously came up with, thinking this was probably what people thought anyway.

“Hn,” Sasuke said.

“Sure,” Gaara said, looking between them, not entirely convinced. “Anyway, it was good seeing you again, give me a call if things don’t work out alright?”

He gave Naruto a quick hug, sparing Sasuke a suspicious glance before leaving them, apparently not joining for lunch. They both stared after the retreating form of Naruto’s ex, watching him cross the street and then disappear in the crowd.   

“What was that for?” Naruto asked, looking at Sasuke with narrowed eyes.

“What was what for?” the raven answered calmly, starting to walk again as if everything was completely normal.

“That!” Naruto said, waving his arms in Gaara’s direction. “You were acting all jealous and stuff!”

Sasuke shoved his hands down his pockets, not bothering to look at the blond.

“Well he was basically flirting with you in front of your fiancé, I have a reputation to maintain.”

Naruto stopped, staring at Sasuke with a gaping mouth.

“What the hell?” he said to himself, crossing his arms and pouting when Sasuke turned around to look at him impatiently. “Did you get kidnapped by aliens or something over Christmas? This isn’t like you.”

Sasuke rolled his eyes and started walking again.

“Moron,” he said.

“Bastard!”

The rest of their walk was made in silence, but Naruto couldn’t help but keep glancing at the impassive raven. He also couldn’t help thinking of how good it had felt, standing there with Sasuke’s arm around him. Not that he had anything against Gaara.

He just couldn’t help having less against Sasuke.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sadly Gaara is the villain in this. My poor, beautiful Gaara, how could I?


	5. I'm not as immune as I'd like to be

**Part 19: Sasuke doesn’t cuddle**

 

“What are you watching?”

Sasuke didn’t look away from the TV screen when Naruto sat down on his left side, too close for comfort.

“Are you blind or just too lazy to look at the screen?”

“Don’t be mean, I’m too tired.”

A few seconds later, when he’d seen what Sasuke watched, Naruto grimaced and continued talking in a dismayed tone of voice.

“Another one of those dramas? When are you ever going to watch something interesting?”

“When you shut up and leave me alone.”

“So cold, bastard!”

Naruto pouted, but then he sighed and leaned his head on Sasuke’s shoulder, making himself comfortable.

“Don’t,” Sasuke warned, but Naruto ignored him.

“The way you watch so many of these dramas, you’d think you were a house-wife or something.”

“The way you never shut up makes me think you’re annoying.”

“Your insults lack edge today,” Naruto mused, turning his head to try and see as much of the raven’s face he could while still keeping his chin in its place on the maybe a little bony shoulder.

Sasuke didn’t answer, he tried to concentrate on the scene displayed in front of him, it was actually a very interesting part of the plot that he’d looked forward to, but Naruto’s body pressed against his own distracted him. The blond had folded his legs to the left, his thighs lightly touching Sasuke’s and his upper body leaning quite heavily on Sasuke’s arm and shoulder. He was just about to shove Naruto off when he felt his left hand being grabbed and turned over by tan fingers.

“Damn that thing really is ugly,” the blond muttered, tracing the pattern on the ring with a fingertip. “Why are you even wearing it? I mean, it’s Sunday and nobody’s visiting today.”

Sasuke scowled at the annoying piece of metal, wondering why indeed he was wearing it.

“Hn,” he answered, not having anything better to say.

“Tch, you’re so vocal Sasuke. If you’re the same in bed it’s no wonder you’ve never had a girlfriend.”

“What makes you think I’ve never had a girlfriend?” Sasuke responded with indignation. “Maybe I just don’t flaunt them around the way _you_ do.”

“I don’t _flaunt_ them, I’m just showing people I’m happily in love, there’s a big difference. And you know, people like to be flaunted around in a relationship. No wait, you don’t, ‘cause you’ve never been in one.”

“Moron.”

“Whatever. You never answered my question.”

Sasuke went back to staring at the screen again, frowning since he’d apparently missed out on stuff he’d wanted to see.

“Don’t tell me you’re getting used to me?” Naruto then said, raising his head to give Sasuke a smug and teasing smile.

“As if anyone could get used to your ugly face.”

Naruto dropped his forehead on Sasuke’s shoulder, groaning as if in pain.

“Fine. Be like that. See if I care. You’re a bastard anyway.”

Sasuke ignored him again, but increased the volume on the TV, which made Naruto pout and just generally feel sorry for himself. As retaliation, he intertwined their fingers so he was holding Sasukes’ left hand in his right, turning his head so his cheek was pressed into the blue sweater Sasuke wore so he could watch too.

“I think I’m gonna fall asleep,” he mumbled.

Twenty minutes later Sasuke realized that the cause for Naruto’s much welcomed silence wasn’t, like he hoped, his suddenly found respect for Sasuke. No, the usually obnoxious idiot was happily off in dream land, shamelessly using him as a pillow and maybe blanket too, the way Naruto’s arm was comfortably squeezed in between his own arm and ribs. He sighed, rubbing his temple with his free hand and wondering what made Naruto so certain that touching was allowed between them.

This situation had occurred many times before, and he preferred to not recall them in his mind, and most of all he didn’t want to think about why he sometimes allowed Naruto to do this, and even stay like that. Maybe he really _had_ gotten used to the blond. He glanced down at the sleeping face. What a shame Naruto wasn’t always so calm and expressionless. This kind of face was definitely a lot easier to look at.

Then the calm face scrunched up slightly, the parted lips forming a few mumbled words instead, at least Sasuke guessed they were supposed to be words. A blond lock had fallen over a closed eye-lid, and Sasuke lifted his right hand to brush it back. Naruto needed to cut his hair, it was getting too long again. Last time he needed a hair-cut he’d tried to convince Sasuke to act the part of hair-dresser. It would be cheaper, true, but when he’d been pointedly asked if he really trusted Sasuke with a sharp object so close to his throat he’d reluctantly given in and gone to a professional. Sasuke almost snorted at the memory. Naruto had looked so disappointed.

He let his head fall back to rest on the back of the couch, sighing and wondering how the hell his life had ended up like this. And his mother had called earlier to interrogate him of what cute things he and Naruto could have possibly done lately. He’d lied and told her they’d been cuddling on the couch all of Saturday night to avoid more dangerous topics. Really, sometimes he almost thought she was disappointed every time he didn’t say they’d been having crazy sex for hours because they loved each other so much. Maybe he should ask Naruto for some details on gay sex just in case his mother _did_ ask.

He glanced at the sleeping figure again, shuddering at the thought. Best case scenario Naruto would tell him a lot of stuff he _really_ had no interest in finding out about, and worst case Naruto would take it as an excuse to do like he’d threatened earlier and literally have Sasuke’s ass. And Sasuke liked his ass untouched thank you very much.

He lowered his eyes, taking in the sight of his pale thin hand held by Naruto’s firm one. Logically he knew that it should bother him, but his body was apparently above such things as logic. He decided to just ignore everything and find something else to watch. If he concentrated enough, he might be able to forget about the cozy feeling slowly creeping through his arm and into the rest of him.

Stupid Naruto.   

 

  **Part 20: It’s _that_ time of the year again**

 

Sasuke went to the door to open it, since that is obviously the logical thing to do when the door-bell is ringing. He really should stop acting logically. Maybe next time he would actually be able to win against his ingrained habit of getting up on time no matter _how_ tired he was. But still, this didn’t help the fact that none other than his father was standing on the other side of the threshold, looking the epitome of trouble.

“Hello Sasuke, it’s nice to see you again.”

“Hn.”

“Is Naruto home?”

“No.”

“Well that’s a shame,” Fugaku said, looking disappointed. All disappointment disappeared however, when Naruto came into the hallway from around the corner, asking Sasuke who it was.

“Oh, Mr. Uchiha!” he exclaimed, freezing in spot and glancing at Sasuke for some sort of explanation, but the bastard just shrugged.

“Ah, Naruto, a pleasure to see you again. You really should have come for dinner, but college students are busy, we understand, although my mother was so very disappointed…” Fugaku trailed off, looking as stern as ever but sounding very friendly.

The effect almost made Naruto pee his pants.

“What do you want, father?” Sasuke asked flatly. He wasn’t scared of Fugaku. Well, not in the way you’d normally think you’d be scared of him.

“Actually I wanted to speak with Naruto, good thing he was home.” He sent Sasuke a raised eyebrow before turning back to Naruto. “Do you mind taking a little walk with me?”

“M-me?” Naruto stuttered, then caught himself and nodded. “I mean, of course, sounds, uh, lovely. I’ll just get my coat.”

Sasuke was unimpressed by the panicked looks Naruto sent him, and the blond bitterly contemplated putting orange hair color in his shampoo. He’d thought about it before but never did it… why could that be… oh right. Naruto always used Sasuke’s shampoo, too lazy to buy his own. And as awesome a color as orange was…

But he was losing focus. There was a much easier way to get back at Sasuke though, so before walking out the door he gave him a chaste kiss, answering Sasuke’s glare with a less effective one since he was pretty much scared shitless right now. Then he followed his soon-to-be father-in-law outside, walking a few minutes in tense silence along the still snowy side-walk, even though it hadn’t snowed for a week.

“So, Naruto, it’s nice we can finally have a little heart-to-heart don’t you think?”

“Y-yeah, umm, was there anything special you wanted to talk about?”

“Hmm, well, nothing major,” Fugaku answered, strolling towards a park with his hands comfortably clasped behind his back. “I just wanted to express even further how pleased we are with the two of you together. I must admit, I might have had some prejudice against your parents when Sasuke told me of their profession, but we’ve talked to them quite often on the phone and they’re very agreeable people.”

Naruto smiled nervously. Those phone conversations had been one of his constant worries, but his mom had seemed to hit it off pretty good with Mikoto, and now they were talking so often he was almost scared of finding out what the phone bill looked like. And his dad and Fugaku had bonded over something as unlikely as mushroom picking.

“And it’s simply incredible how much Sasuke has changed the past years, he’s become so social and happy.”

Naruto thought there was something wrong with that sentence; namely _everything_.

Fugaku had stopped now, and suddenly he took Naruto’s hands between his own, giving Naruto an honest, thankful look.

“I know he’s not the easiest person to be around, and sometimes he can even appear rather stand-offish, but he likes you, and I’m asking you, no I’m _begging_ you to think three times before breaking up with him if it ever comes to that.”

Naruto felt like the biggest liar in the world, meeting Fugaku’s concerned eyes and nodding slowly in response.

“Of course,” he said, having to clear his throat a little. “I mean, sometimes he’s such a bastard but I guess, I’d just, feel weird without him” he finished, looking to the side and biting his lip.

What was that knot tightening in his stomach at the thought of breaking up with Sasuke? He didn’t like it. He looked up with more determination in his eyes.

“Don’t worry, he won’t get rid of me _that_ easy,” he said with greater conviction, a little confused at the almost knowing smile flashing quickly over the stern Uchiha’s features.

“That’s very good to hear,” Fugaku mumbled, letting go of Naruto’s hands and starting to walk again.

They walked for a few minutes in silence, taking a small circle around the park and then making their way back again.

“Oh, by the way Naruto, have you planned anything for Valentine’s Day yet?”

Naruto flinched, realizing that _that_ day wasn’t even a week away.

“Umm…”

“Don’t worry, I have a reservation at Sasuke’s favorite restaurant already placed, it’s very difficult to get a table there around this time of the year, so I took the liberty. Everything will be on my mother, she wanted to give you this as an advance gift.”

Naruto could only stare at Fugaku with a gaping mouth.

“W-wow, that’s very nice of you Mr. Uchiha.”

“Oh please, call me Fugaku. We’re practically family,” the intimidating man said, although Naruto had to admit he looked much less frightening when chuckling good-naturedly and clapping his back.

With a sudden lump forming in his throat, Naruto realized that they really were practically family; the wedding was only a few months away. That is, if he could survive Valentine’s Day with the guy that hated the occasion more than anything else in the whole world.

 

**Part 21: I’m not going!**

 

Silence stretched out between the two young men sitting at the kitchen table. Fugaku had just left, and now Naruto stared at Sasuke who was just as stubbornly staring at the fridge.

“So-“

“No.”

“Sasuke I didn’t even-“

“No.”

“Aargh shut up shut up _shut up_!”

Naruto was leaning over the table, trying to hit the cold asshole, somehow thinking that would make him stop saying no to everything.

“It’s a gift from your grandmother, you can’t ignore it Sasuke.”

“I’ll pretend to get sick or something.”

“How mature,” Naruto said sarcastically.

The offended raven still refused to look at him, his arms crossed and wearing a sulking expression.

“I know you hate Valentine’s but-“

“No Naruto, I don’t hate it, I _loathe_ and _detest_ it and the thought of it makes me want to murder whoever got the idea for something that nasty in an excruciatingly painful way.”

Naruto gave him an unimpressed look.

“Really Sasuke, _really_? Have you ever even done anything special on Valentine’s Day?”

“You mean besides hiding?”

“Sasuke…”

“Why would I have done something ‘special’, I’ve never had a girlfriend as you so nicely put it a few weeks ago.”

“I think you just hate it because all the girls annoy you, I bet at heart you’re a secret romantic who wants nothing more than a mushy candle-lit dinner in the moon-light with your loved one.”

Naruto’s attempt at looking romantic with fluttering eyelashes was marred slightly by the wide, teasing grin that spread across his face.

“And that would be you?” Sasuke replied in a bored voice.

“Hey! I’ll have you know I’m a very romantic person!”

“I doubt that.”

“Well at least I’m more romantic than _you_ , ice-prick bastard.”

“Again, I doubt that Mr. I’m-so-clumsy-I-can’t-keep-a-boyfriend-for-longer-than-a-month.”

“I resent that. Gaara and I were together almost two years!”

Sasuke narrowed his eyes and glared at Naruto, then looked away again with an upturned nose.

“You know what I think?” Naruto continued.

“No, and I’d rather not find out.”

“Hm.” Naruto stood up and walked around the table to stand in front of Sasuke, forcefully turning his chair around so they were face to face. “I think you’re jealous of all the lovey-dovey couples, because you really _are_ a secret romantic.”

Sasuke glared at the blond who had one hand on each side of his face, gripping the back of the chair and leaning in towards him.

“Don’t worry love, I promise I’ll give you the most romantic night anyone could ask for, and by the end of it you’ll just love me even more than you already do.”

Naruto’s voice was half-sarcastic, half-serious, and he’d leaned even closer to breathe the last words against Sasuke’s lips. The raven tried to keep glaring, but he couldn’t stop himself from flinching almost imperceptibly and move his head a little further away, accidentally licking his lips and cursing himself when he realized he did.

Naruto slid his hands inwards along the chair, embracing Sasuke loosely and pressing their foreheads together. He was way too close and way too warm, and Sasuke felt frozen in his seat, hating himself for just waiting for Naruto to do something.

And then Naruto’s eyes fell to half-mast, a seducing look playing in them. He got even impossibly closer and lightly brushed his lips over Sasuke’s, feeling small tremors of electricity being exchanged.

.

.

.

And then Sasuke violently pushed him off, drying off his mouth and sending him glares meant to kill.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing you moron?! God you stupid, stupid idiot, there is no way that I’m going to that _stupid_ dinner with you!”

   

**Part 22: The gifts just keep coming**

 

Valentine’s Day dawned beautifully, or well, more beautiful for some and less for others. Naruto was _annoyed_ to say the least about getting woken up at 6:00 am, sure it was Thursday and he was supposed to get up in half an hour anyway, but seriously, who rings the door bell this early?

Opening it he stared blankly at the two faintly out of breath delivery men outside, one of them stretching out an electronic device for him to sign on.

“Delivery of one king-sized bed for a… Mr. Uzumaki and Mr. Uchiha” one of them said.

Naruto stared at the gigantic packages behind the two men. What. The. Hell?

“Uhh, I don’t remember ordering a bed,” he said, completely baffled.

“Hmm,” the other guy said and checked some papers in his pocket. “Oh right, it’s ordered by one F. Uchiha and we should also bring two beds back with us?”

Naruto felt horror creeping up his spine. This couldn’t be true. Apparently Fugaku had decided that they needed a better bed. He’d commented on the fact that both of their beds had looked occupied, having checked it with the excuse of using the bathroom, and it seems like their excuse of sometimes having different schedules and not wanting to wake the other up didn’t make an impression on him. Another Valentine’s gift then.

“O…kay. Umm, let me just, wake up Sasuke…” Naruto mumbled and ran through the apartment, skidding to a halt outside Sasuke’s door and praying that the raven wouldn’t murder him too painfully.

“Sasuke?” he whispered into the dark room once he’d opened a crack in the door.

No answer. Only one thing to do then. He strode inside with determination, reaching the window and pulling up the curtain in one swift move.

It didn’t help at all. Cursing to himself about forgetting the tiny little detail that it was still _winter_ , he walked over to Sasuke’s bed instead and turned on the lamp beside it. Cue one angry eye opening, much the same way the dragon in the Hobbit had done underneath all that gold, except Sasuke went down underneath the covers instead. Naruto sighed.

“Sasuke, you have to get up, there are some guys here with a bed your dad has ordered for us.”

No movement.

“Sasuke!”

Naruto jumped onto the bed, shaking the raven through the covers and getting thrown off again.

“Hey, that was mean,” he pouted, rubbing his butt and glaring at the scary sight that was one grumpy Sasuke.

“Then don’t wake me up,” Sasuke hissed from the tiny opening he’d made through the comforter before hiding underneath it again. “Moron” he added as an afterthought, the sound muffled.

“Sasuke did you even hear what I said! There are two guys here, with a bed, and they’re going to replace ours with it!”

The dark creature returned, peeking out with a suspicious frown.

“Dobe, it’s not funny.”

“You think I think this is funny? As if I’d want to share a bed with you! You always hug the pillows and comforter and everything!”

“Well _you’re_ hugging _me_.”

Silence. Then someone cleared their throat from the direction of the door.

“So can we start working now? We kinda have a pressed schedule.”

Sasuke and Naruto glanced at each other, both of them with equally dismayed looks, and then Sasuke sighed and threw off his warm cozy covers and sat up. In only boxers.

“Stop staring at my ass,” Sasuke said as he’d stood up and walked over to his closet, not thrilled about walking out in boxers in front of those other guys.

“I wasn’t,”Naruto lied. It wasn’t his fault that ass was made to be stared at.

Once Sasuke was dressed and they had removed everything from their beds, they watched with sad expressions as the skeletons of their beds were carried outside and the new horror was assembled. They’d agreed on putting it in Sasuke’s room, mostly because Sasuke had promised bloody murder if they didn’t, and Naruto already missed waking up to orange.

When the two men had finished, leaving one large but definitely not large enough dark brown lacquered bed with red satin sheets covering it, Naruto and Sasuke stood side by side simply staring at it.

“Well, you can sleep on the couch,” Sasuke said.

“Sasuke, I don’t care if this means I have to share the bed, there is no way I am sleeping on that couch.”

Sasuke scowled at him, and Naruto scowled right back.

“Ugh, whatever, I really need coffee right now.”

“Bastard.”

“Weren’t you going to give me the most romantic Valentine’s Day ever?”

Naruto stalked off, muttering to himself.

“I wouldn’t mind breakfast on the bed!” Sasuke called after him.

“I wouldn’t mind sex on the bed!” Naruto called back, grinning evilly to himself when he heard Sasuke splutter with indignation.

But still, sleeping in the same bed, he could see all sorts of problems with that.  

 

**Part 23: How romantic**

 

“So…”

“Just shut up and drink, dobe.”

“Teme! At least give me five minutes before you ignore me!”

“You know, this will be a lot easier if I’m drunk.”

Sasuke met the blond’s scowl with a raised eyebrow, taking another sip of his wine. How he ended up agreeing on going to this annoying dinner he had no idea, but it’s not like he had anything better to do. And, honestly, it was a good excuse to give all the girls that asked him out. You’d think waving the ugly ring in their faces would be enough, but not for those girls. They were… _persistent_.

“Well it’s sad that you can’t have fun without being drunk,” Naruto said with a pout, drinking from his own wineglass and looking at all the other lovey-dovey couples.

“It’s not about having fun, it’s about surviving being alone with _you_.”

“You know what your problem is Sasuke?” Naruto said and leaned towards him over the table, pointing at him and narrowing his eyes. “You’re a jerk, that’s the problem.”

“You’re the problem.”

“Your stupid _hair_ is the problem!”  

“Shut up and drink, Naruto.”

Naruto opened his mouth to retort, but stopped himself, instead giving Sasuke a shocked look.

“You just said my name!”

“So?”

“Ha! Admit it! You _like_ being here with me!”

Sasuke ignored him, instead trying to make their food appear through willpower. The sooner this was over the safer. Who knows what the idiot might come up with on a romantic dinner in public. The blond moron still had a smug smile on his face, and Sasuke felt his eye twitch. He didn’t like being here, that was a ridiculous assumption. Or rather, it was his favorite restaurant but the _company_ left a lot to wish for.

“But do you know what’s even sadder?”

Sasuke took a larger sip of his drink. This really _would_ be easier if he got a little less sober.

“That if you hadn’t been here with me, I mean, if you’d gone on a date with someone else, like a _girl_ , you’d be totally miserable.”

“Idiot, you sound like you’re already drunk.”

“You sound like what I said is true!”

“Whatever, I’m not less miserable just because it’s you instead of some girl.”

Naruto grabbed Sasuke’s hand that had been lying on the table, holding it between both of his own and turning it back and forth as if examining it. Then he only held it in one and brought it up to his face, placing it against his cheek and giving Sasuke what he hoped was a good version of an affectionate look.  

“Well, _I’m_ less miserable because it’s you.”

Naruto felt Sasuke freeze, his eye doing that twitching thing again before he looked away, drinking up the last of his drink and looking, in Naruto’s opinion, rather nervous. How cute. He decided to challenge fate a little, and pressed his lips to the back of the pale hand he still held.

“You’re so cute when you do that. It makes me want to sit on the beach and watch the stars with you in my arms.”

“You suck at this sort of thing.”

“Oh yeah? Then why are you blushing?”

Naruto wiggled his eyebrows at Sasuke, who refused to meet his eyes and instead re-filled his glass from the bottle on the table.

Naruto smiled in surprised victory, since he still held Sasuke’s hand and the raven hadn’t even tried to take it back yet. This was going way better than he could have imagined.

“Maybe I _should_ get you drunk,” he mused as Sasuke took another sip of the red wine. “If anything, it seems to make you less of a prick.”

Sasuke still didn’t say anything, appearing to have some sort of inner struggle and sending Naruto angry glares. Of course, that’s when the food arrived, and Naruto reluctantly let go of him. They ate in silence for a while, but when Sasuke was on his fifth glass of wine Naruto took it from him with a stern expression.

“I’d prefer it if I didn’t have to carry you home,” he said, putting it down next to himself instead.

“I’m nowhere near my limit moron.”

“That’s what _you_ think bastard, but I’ve seen you drink before. Trust me, red wine is not your thing.”

Sasuke started to protest, then seemed to come to his senses and just mumbled something to himself before drinking some water instead.

“Hey, Sasuke,” Naruto said after another moment of silence.

Sasuke looked up, in the process of cutting some of his food, his appearance already a little flushed from the wine.     

“Is it… _really_ that horrible? I mean, to be here, with, umm, with me. ‘Cause I think it’s kind of nice, you know, just doing something else for a change, or well…” he trailed off, then blushed and looked down at his own food, the rest of his sentence muttered under his breath. “Ugh whatever, just forget it.”

Sasuke stared at him for a moment, then sighed and rested his chin in his hand.

“It’s not,” he mumbled, but glared when Naruto looked up in surprise. “Don’t let it get to your head, it’s already full of stupid things to last you forever.”

“Bastard!” Naruto said with a scowl, but when Sasuke looked away again he couldn’t help smiling, just a little.

However small it was it was still an admittance, and even if Sasuke spent the rest of the night throwing insults at him he’d still walk away from this ‘date’ with a good feeling in his stomach. Because Sasuke didn’t think his company was horrible, and Naruto couldn’t help feeling happy about that. Maybe he wouldn’t even have to sleep on the couch tonight.

 

**Part 24: Just this once**

 

“Sasuke you are soo drunk,” Naruto chuckled, sitting next to the faintly scowling raven on the couch.

Once they’d gotten back, after the rest of the dinner progressing in some sort of truce, Sasuke had proceeded to get wasted and Naruto had joined him.

“Not drunk enough to make you pretty,” Sasuke replied with a smirk.

“Whu- you- _asshole_!” Naruto choked out, hitting Sasuke’s leg hard and glaring at the bastard. “I’m totally pretty! I’m prettier than _you_!”

“You’re a terrible liar,” Sasuke said with a yawn, sliding down so he was lying on the couch instead, but his feet still touched the floor.

“Well you’re a terrible person!”

Sasuke closed his eyes, feeling the world spinning a little too much. Naruto was, as impossible as it sounded, right about red wine not being his thing. And he’d had quite a lot after coming back home, just like the moron. He put one arm above his head, the other hanging over the edge of the couch just like his legs.

“Tease,” Naruto muttered with half-lidded eyes, staring at the way Sasuke’s dress shirt slid up a little to show off some creamy stomach and a sexy hip bone.

“Gay,” Sasuke shot back, but it wasn’t hostile, it sounded more sleepy than anything else.    

Naruto eased closer, putting one leg almost on top of Sasuke’s and raising a hand to trace the revealed skin. Sasuke opened his eyes to glare at him, but Naruto gave him a defiant look and snuck his hand just a few centimeters further underneath the dark blue shirt, feeling the smooth skin over muscle.

Ignoring the dark eyes watching him he sat up on his knees, his hand relocating to beside Sasuke’s head, his body leaning over the pale one that taunted him so. He saw the slow beating of Sasuke’s heart at his pulse, and pressed two fingers from his other hand against the spot.

Letting his fingertips move down the side of the throat, he carefully leaned forwards, feeling his own breath reflected against the skin, before pressing an oh so feather light kiss just above where neck met shoulder. Holding his lips there for just two seconds, he could sense the way Sasuke’s heartbeat sped up slightly, and the way his own heart skipped a beat.

He placed another one mid-throat, just as light, and then another one above the pulse, feeling the pulsating rhythm against his lips, his body heating up and his senses over-loaded with the smell and closeness of Sasuke. He traced the jaw line with his eyes, observing the almost imperceptible tensing of it, over the soft curve of the silent mouth and stopping as it hit the fabric of their couch.

He raised his head a little, somehow managing the hovering of his mouth just above Sasuke’s slightly open one, feeling the puffs of air mixing with his own. He refused to meet the other man’s gaze, his body buzzing from the heat that came to him in waves from feeling the other’s body so close, and so intoxicating.

Not knowing when he’d moved he felt his lips connect with another pair of soft ones, familiar but at the same time so new, his heart was hammering in his chest and he expected something, _anything_ to steal this from him, this moment of pretending there would be a positive response. He moved his lips, and then released a shaky breath, disconnecting and feeling a cold prickling all over.

“We should go sleep,” he whispered, sensing rather than seeing the hesitant nod, standing up, instantly frozen, then warm again as his hand without consent suddenly held another.

Walking towards Sasuke’s bedroom, a hundred bad ideas flew through his mind, none of them staying but all of them making him regret every little thing he’d done during the evening. Seeing the double-bed and all its implications in front of him caused nervousness to take a tight grip on him, his throat suddenly dry and his brain so confused he wasn’t sure if this was reality or another dream anymore.

He sat down on the edge, slowly turning towards Sasuke but still not meeting his eyes, then crawled backwards until he was positioned with his head on a pillow, Sasuke somehow poised above him. Two hands intertwined, another one holding Sasuke up against the pillow, and the last one taking a hesitant hold of that silky blue shirt, pulling the body above a tiny bit closer.

He felt light-headed and short of breath, not sure if he was on the verge of exploding in pleasure or frustrated tears. Eyes closed, he let the hand holding Sasuke’s shirt travel up his body instead, reaching a cheek, and then lower again to trace a collarbone.

“Just once,” he said quietly, swallowing the lump in his throat, his blood boiling in his veins. “Could you, just this once, like you did before…”

He slid his hand around the smooth neck, lightly scraping his nails against the back of it, feeling a small tremor caused by it and nudging it downwards, peeking through his lashes and seeing a blurry face.

“Kiss me,” he breathed against Sasuke’s lips.

And like a dream, a vivid and perfect one, lips met his and moved, not even hesitant at first, but firm and demanding and ripping every thought, every sane awareness from him. His hand was buried unconsciously in dark locks, his other letting go of Sasuke’s to instead embrace the raven’s bent back, over the shirt, then sliding downwards.

A tongue tracing his bottom lip forced him to gasp, two hands dragged half-way through his hair before stopping, and Naruto didn’t think he’d ever be able to breathe again as his own hand came to a rest against a warm, tensed thigh.

With a jolt Sasuke came back to reality, freezing before harshly stopping all mouth-on-mouth contact, his eyes confusedly focusing on Naruto’s flushed appearance. Swallowing in shocked disbelief he rolled off the blond, turning his back on him and trying desperately to stop the trembling in his hands.

“I’m going to sleep,” he gritted out, sounding angrier than he maybe was, but clumsily getting under the covers without even bothering to think of getting a pajamas.      

For a long time he lay completely still, shutting his eyes tight and listening without wanting it to Naruto’s slowly steadying breaths, until they evened out so much he must have fallen asleep.

Only then did he turn around again, observing the figure still on its back but with the relaxed face turned away from him, wondering why it bothered him that a stupid moron like that, who by the way was much too stupid to get sick anyway, might get cold in only his thin long-sleeved orange shirt, and cursing himself for struggling to get the limp body underneath the comforter.

The dobe was starting to finally become too much for him.


	6. What are all these emotions doing everywhere

**Part 25: Sleeping habits**

 

Sasuke woke up, slowly, and with cozy comfort giving way to the annoyed gritting of his teeth, the same way he’d been waking up two weeks in a row now. He glared down through the darkness in the direction where he could feel Naruto’s arm slung over his side, hugging him and pushing him closer into Naruto’s too warm chest. The covers had been thrown off half-way, pooling around their waists and Sasuke didn’t like it at all. He usually slept with it pulled up just underneath his chin, one hand holding it in place securely. But now, Naruto’s warm body prevented him from it, and instead he had a mouth pressed against his neck, breaths tickling him and waking him up before his alarm was even close to going off. And Sasuke _hated_ waking up too early.

The only good part about this was that this way, Naruto didn’t find out about their… _cuddling_. It was bad enough that Sasuke had to experience waking up like this, he didn’t need the moron smugly telling him good morning and – god forbid – give him a good morning kiss too.

He sighed, as usual grabbing Naruto’s arm and pushing it off himself, easing forwards out of his strong grip to sleep alone the last half hour. It didn’t matter that they went to bed on opposite sides every night, their backs to each other. At some point during the night Naruto snuck over to Sasuke’s side and proceeded to spoon him, and Sasuke would have suspected that it was on purpose if it weren’t for the fact that Naruto wasn’t the least bit embarrassed in the mornings, which he should have been if he had.

Sasuke pulled the covers up to his chin, sighing as he relaxed in his favorite position. He’d been, sort of, giving Naruto the silent treatment lately. He preferred to not think about that drunken night, and if he talked to the idiot he had a feeling it would lead to uncomfortable topics. He squeezed his eyes shut, rubbing his lips to get rid of the sparks of memory. Giving him the silent treatment, somehow it included not protesting anymore when Naruto touched him in public. He’d let Naruto put his arm over his shoulder, sit too close for comfort, even hold his hand as they walked wherever they were going.

But Naruto didn’t kiss him.

He should be happy about that. He _should_. It shouldn’t bother him that the blond walked on eggshells around him, that he caught him staring at him as if deep in thought, that for some reason Naruto was very attentive and hesitant to pick a fight.

He sighed again, feeling the dobe shift behind him, getting closer again and almost forcing Sasuke over the edge in his attempts to avoid contact. He didn’t know what was going on right now, and _that_ bothered him a lot. And yes, he was afraid of bringing it up, because he didn’t want to confront whatever emotions were stirring inside him. Staying silent and complacent was, in his opinion, his best option right now.   

xxx

Naruto felt himself drift somewhere in-between sleep and consciousness, gradually becoming more aware of his surroundings. _Three weeks_ he thought dully to himself. Three weeks since Valentine’s Day and he was this close to screaming and ripping off his hair. If his mother had thought Sasuke had been giving him mixed signals before, it was nothing compared to now. Sasuke was ignoring him verbally but at the same time acting as if everything was fine in public, and after a few hesitant days Naruto had realized that he didn’t object anymore when he touched him.

At first, he’d been really happy, thinking that Sasuke was coming around and warming up to him, maybe he even liked the kiss! But as the days passed and Sasuke refused to talk to him he’d started worrying that Sasuke was just apathetic, giving up the will to struggle but not liking it one bit. And it made Naruto jumpy.

He didn’t know what Sasuke considered acceptable, it had been a lot easier before when he knew Sasuke didn’t accept _anything_. Now, he had no idea where the limit was and whether or not he was slowly writing his own death sentence. If Sasuke hated it, he didn’t show it. But if Sasuke liked it, he didn’t show it either. He felt as if he was fumbling around in no man’s land, and one wrong move would alert the enemy and it would all be over.

And Naruto didn’t want it to be over. Not when he’d gotten this far, gotten this close to Sasuke, knowing what it was like to be physically close to him and those rare moments when Sasuke would relax and everything felt real, those moments were enough to make Naruto forget about all the bad ones. He wanted to be close to Sasuke, wanted it so much that sometimes it _hurt_.

He didn’t like the dawning sensation that maybe, quite possibly, he felt more for Sasuke than you feel for a friend, and he cursed himself for falling for the one guy that didn’t want a relationship whatsoever, and least of all with another guy.

But all the _mixed signals_ …

He sighed, pulling Sasuke’s body closer to him and burying his nose in his soft neck.

Wait, pulling…what…closer...and…

With a start Naruto sat up in bed, opening his eyes to stare into the dark room, his heart suddenly trying to escape through his mouth and he froze in fear, wondering if he’d woken Sasuke up.

But there was no movement, and he slowly sank down again, trying to wrap his mind around the fact that he’d been holding Sasuke, and he wanted to do it again.

Hesitantly, he inched closer, feeling his chest hit Sasuke’s t-shirt clad back as he tried to keep his breathing somewhat steady, sneaking his arm over the warm skin of Sasuke’s arm and then relaxing around him. He put his palm flat against the raven’s heart, feeling his calm pulse and wondering how many hours they’d been sleeping like this.

Now that he thought about it, this was the first time since they got the bed that Naruto had woken up before either of their alarms. Meaning he had no idea if this was the first time this happened, or…

Sasuke stirred, and Naruto stiffened when he felt something that felt suspiciously much like an ass brush over his groin. _Shit_. This was a bad idea, and he very reluctantly let go of the raven and slid back to his own side of the bed again, having to forcefully pull some of the covers from Sasuke’s tight hold. Turning his back to all the arousing heat of the body next to him, he tried to calm his too eager lower parts down.

It really didn’t help that he’d been having much less ‘alone time’ since they had started to share the bed.

Giving up since it was impossible to stop his mind from running wilder than usual he got out of bed, deciding to take a cold shower. Or maybe jack off and then take a cold shower.

Whichever he picked, as he was busy under the streaming water, Sasuke woke up, for the first time in three weeks without an annoying body making him feel as if he had a fever.

And for some obscure reason this managed to annoy him even more.

 

**Part 26: What about the fifth round?**

 

Naruto slumped in his seat on a bench in one of the corridors in his part of school. Kiba was there, Sakura and Ino were there, and now they were just waiting for Sasuke to show up before heading to lunch. Naruto played with the thought that Sasuke might ditch them, out of all Naruto’s friends Sasuke seemed to think that these three were the worst.

But he would have probably texted him in that case, he might be a bastard but he was a polite bastard who wouldn’t let people wait for him unnecessarily.

At least not when Naruto had company.

Sighing he dug around in his pocket for his phone, feeling it vibrate and wondering if maybe it was Sasuke calling to ditch them after all. Which would be an interesting thing for Sasuke to do since they didn’t really talk at the moment. And Naruto had gotten a few weird glances this morning, making him wonder if maybe Sasuke had actually been awake and rubbed his ass against Naruto just to be mean.

“What,” he greeted whoever called him with, immediately regretting it when his mother yelled at him.

_“What kind of way is that to greet your mother? I didn’t raise you to disrespect other people!”_

“I’m sorry mom, jeez I didn’t look at the screen I thought it was someone else.”

“ _Well you’re lucky you’re my favorite son.”_

Naruto simply let his head fall back, hitting the wall behind him and groaning instead of unnecessarily pointing out that he was her _only_ son.

_“Anyway I’m just calling to tell you that your father and I will come over in a few weeks, Mikoto is letting us stay at their house so we can help with all the preparations!”_

“Wait what?! You’re kidding right?”

“ _I’m not. By the way, I heard you and Sasuke haven’t had dinner with them for a while, really Naruto you shouldn’t give your parents-in-law such a bad impression.”_

“Mom! You _know_ why we haven’t! You’re supposed to be on _my_ side in this!”

_“Oh sweetie I love you, but you are getting married, you should take it seriously. You said you were going to take responsibility, but avoiding Sasuke’s parents, who by the way are very nice people, isn’t the responsible thing to do.”_

“ _Sasuke’s_ the one avoiding them,” Naruto hissed, seeing the bastard walking towards them through the window he was facing. “I can’t very well go see them alone!”

_“Well, once we arrive we’ll be having lots of dinners to make up for it, and we’re not taking no for an answer.”_

“Yes mom,” Naruto sighed. “I need to go now, talk to you later okay? Bye.”

Feeling rather depressed he put the phone away, fiddling with his bag and not looking up when he heard the others greet Sasuke, well not until he could see the bastard’s expensive shoes clearly next to his bag.

“Oh hey Sasu-mmph.”

The moment he looked up, Sasuke had for some reason decided to give him a kiss without any sort of warning.

“What the hell was that for?” Naruto whispered when Sasuke’s lips left his after the brief contact.

Sasuke shrugged.

“You looked like you needed it. Let’s go.”

Naruto stared after his supposed fiancé, before scrambling to his feet and running the few steps it took to catch up with him.

“Give a guy a warning,” he muttered, his hand brushing against Sasuke’s before grabbing it, almost out of habit.

Sasuke didn’t answer, not that Naruto had expected him to.

Later on at lunch, when Sasuke had been quiet as usual and Naruto had been quiet as not usual, Kiba leaned forwards to give Sasuke a searching glare.

“Hey Uchiha, you might take my best friend’s hand in marriage, but you’re not going to make him as gloomy as you are. Seriously, what did you do to him?”

Sasuke spared Kiba a disinterested look.

“He’s just tired from too much sex.”

If Naruto had been drinking something at the moment, he would have spit it out all over the table for sure. As it was, he simply coughed and stared at the raven with shocked disbelief.

“Did you guys just _hear_ that?” he asked.

Sakura and Ino both rolled their eyes.

“Yeah just rub it in will ya? Not everyone has a sexy boyfriend to get dirty with every damn night,” Sakura sulked.

“No I mean seriously, Sasuke just said we’re tired out from too much sex!”

Three pairs of eyes gave him weird looks.

“Dude, why do you sound so surprised? You’d think you’d know if you guys have had sex last night.”

Sasuke snorted at Kiba’s comment, which made Naruto try to shoot laser beams through his stupid head. Then he smiled, the kind of evil smile you see on evil people in awesome movies.

“Sure, I just didn’t think Sasuke would admit it since he did such embarrassing things last night.”

He said the last part with a purr, grinning smugly at the girls’ looks of faintly blushing interest, ignoring Kiba’s attempts at being funny by pretending to give a blow job to his straw. Really, the gay jokes were so last year.

“Ooh my, whatever did you do?” Ino asked, eagerly leaning towards Naruto to hear better.

Sakura pretended to be less interested, she didn’t want to admit being a perv the way Ino had no problems with. She didn’t succeed.

“I don’t see why I should be embarrassed, Naruto was the one wearing that cute little costume,” Sasuke suddenly said, causing Kiba to break out laughing and trying to ask just what kind of costume in-between gasps.

Naruto spluttered for a few seconds before he was able to respond.

“What about the second round then, when you were hand-cuffed to the bed and begged me to give it to you harder?”

“What about the third round when you switched to the maid outfit and rode me like a little bitch?”

“What about the fourth round when I spanked you and you came just from hearing me talk dirty to you?!”

They were both pretty much shouting right now, hands gripping shirts and glares aiming to kill.

“What about the fifth round when-“

“Alright alright!” Kiba interrupted them with. “We get it, you guys have crazy kinks and do it for hours, jeez no wonder you’re so tired today.”  

Sakura and Ino gave Kiba disappointed looks, hands holding noses to prevent any blood from showing.

Naruto huffed and crossed his arms, turning away from the asshole that people thought he actually had a good relationship with. Sasuke on the other hand just went back to looking bored, picking up his phone to play with instead.

If Sasuke gave him a boner from this fight then Naruto would never forgive him.

xxx

When Sasuke entered their apartment later that night, Naruto stood waiting for him, fixating him with a serious look in his eyes.

“Sasuke, I think we need to talk.”

Sasuke froze for a second, then proceeded to take off his shoes calmly.

“And I think we don’t.”

“Hey!”

When Sasuke didn’t answer and merely tried to brush past him, Naruto grabbed his arm and forced him to turn around and face him.

“I don’t care what you think, we still need to talk.”

Sasuke stared at him with annoyance for a few seconds, then sighed.

“What’s there to talk about? I let you act all cuddly with me in public, and the rest of the time you should just leave me alone. Now if you excuse me, I need to use the bathroom.”

Naruto stared after Sasuke, completely speechless. What the hell? Then he narrowed his eyes and followed the raven, pulling the door to the bathroom open before Sasuke had had time to lock it.

“That’s bullshit Sasuke and you know it,” he said, matching Sasuke’s sour look with one equally sour. “But fine, act like a jerk if you want, see if I care next time.”

And with that he slammed the door shut, muttering curse words under his breath as he made his way back to his ramen in the kitchen. At least the ramen was better at making conversation than that bastard asshole of a dipshit Sasuke was.

 

**Part 27: If you want**

 

When Sasuke entered the kitchen just a few minutes after Naruto it caught him by surprise. He’d kind of expected to be alone with his tasty ramen, which is why he had his feet up on the table. Hastily putting them down again he eyed Sasuke warily, waiting for the usual comment on his hygiene, or rather lack thereof. But Sasuke said nothing, just glanced at him before taking the opposite seat, resting his chin in one hand and absently starting to leaf through the morning paper still on the table.

“Umm, Sasuke?” Naruto asked hesitantly.

No answer.

“I’m sorry I got mad, I just feel kinda frustrated right now…”

Sasuke glanced at him, then returned to staring blankly at one of the articles.

“It just bothers me to not know where you draw the line, dammit!”

Sasuke pursed his lips, his gaze burning into the paper.

“I said I didn’t want to talk.”

“You don’t have to, just nod or shake your head.”

Sasuke gave Naruto a doubtful look, but didn’t look back down again. Instead he seemed to give in and agree to at least listen. Naruto sighed and rubbed his cheek tiredly, trying to come up with a good way to go through with this conversation.

“Okay look, it’s nice that things are better in public now, but honestly everything else feels worse.” Watching the impassive raven he bit his lip in hesitation, not really sure where he was going with this. “It’s just… _weird_ for me to hold your hand and whatever half the day and then as soon as we’re alone you expect me to be all distant, you _know_ how much I like body contact.”

Sasuke nodded, narrowing his eyes as if he’d guessed Naruto’s next words and didn’t like them.

“And I’m not saying we should act all couple-y in private or something, because I know you don’t want to. But I really need to know what you’re comfortable with, Sasuke.”

Naruto’s blue eyes had a pleading look in them, and Sasuke turned his head to stare at the suddenly interesting wall instead. But then he seemed to almost sag, as if he’d been tensing up all day and only now managed to relax again.

“I don’t know,” he mumbled, glancing back at Naruto and then down at the table. “I’ve never had a girlfriend as you so observantly put it before, I don’t know what I’m comfortable with.”

He sighed and leaned back in the chair, running a hand through his hair and finally settling his gaze on Naruto. He shrugged, looking sort of dejected.

“What do you want me to say, that you can hold my hand but not hug me? Because I _really_ don’t know anymore. And it’s bad enough that you-“ he stopped himself, grimacing and moving his hand through his dark locks again.

“That I hug you at night?” Naruto guessed, looking apologetically at the struggling bastard.

“ _Yes,_ ” Sasuke hissed. “But at the same time…” Now he looked almost embarrassed, and as if he was mad at himself for it. “I mean, of course I know you like touching, and I’m pretty much keeping you from doing anything… _physical_. So of course you’d want to…”

He took a deep breath, steeling himself for admitting what he felt in the following sentence.

“Maybe it was your fault, but it’s still because of _me_ that we’re doing this so…”

He fiddled with one of the pages, ripping off small pieces and rolling them into tiny scrunched-up balls.

“So I feel like I shouldn’t be mad at you for doing all that.”

He swallowed nervously, peeking up at Naruto who was looking pretty shocked.

“Well, umm…” Naruto mumbled, feeling a little awkward, not knowing how to interpret Sasuke’s admittance.

“I don’t want you to cheat on me,” Sasuke suddenly said, glaring at the wall again stubbornly.

“I wouldn’t do that,” Naruto said slowly.

“So I guess,” Sasuke continued, acting as if he hadn’t heard Naruto’s words, “that I’ll have to, let you… well let you do stuff” he finished rather awkwardly, looking very uncomfortable.

Naruto stared at him for a few seconds, then snorted and shook his head. He got up from his chair and walked around the table, leaning against it beside Sasuke and taking a hold of his cheek to meet his eyes.

“Maybe I should stop calling you a bastard,” he mumbled, continuing before Sasuke managed to respond. “You’d really do anything for your family, just to make them happy. Shouldn’t you think a little more about yourself sometimes?”

Sasuke looked down, unable to meet those too searching blue orbs.

“But disregarding the fact that I think you’d be alright even if you told everyone the truth; the same way you’d do anything for them I’d do anything for my friends, and yes I do count you as one of my important friends Sasuke.”

Sasuke bit his lip, clenching his fists on top of the table surface and abandoning his paper balls.

“So I’m not going to cheat on you, or bail on you. I’ll be right here okay?”

Sasuke still couldn’t look at him, his teeth making deep marks in his lips as he struggled to not get affected by Naruto’s words.

“Hey, come here bastard,” Naruto said quietly, fondly, grabbing Sasuke’s arm and pulling him up into a hug.

After standing stiffly within Naruto’s embrace for a moment, Sasuke relaxed and leaned his head on a for once black-clad shoulder, closing his eyes and hesitantly putting his arms around the blond’s back, lightly holding his sweater between his fingers.

Naruto hugged him tighter, resting his head against Sasuke’s, his breaths causing dark strands of hair to sway a little.

“We’ll be okay,” he whispered, his throat constricting when he felt pale hands tighten their hold. “I promise. Let’s just, let’s just take care of each other okay?”

“Okay,” Sasuke breathed back, then again, stronger, “Okay.”

Naruto smiled, brushing his lips over Sasuke’s soft hair and secretly enjoying the smell of it.

“If you want,” Sasuke continued, his voice subdued, “if you want you can kiss me. In public I mean. I won’t protest.”

Naruto raised his head and stared unseeingly at their kitchen, the white walls with some blue tiles, the door with a few weird scratches and beside it Sasuke’s boring calendar with pictures of scenery that he insisted on having in the kitchen instead of his room. He didn’t know if he was on the verge to smile or frown. Sasuke’s words gave him mixed feelings of happy rushes clashing with more frustration in the area of his stomach. It appeared to be quite the epic battle.

But feeling Sasuke in his arms, there was no way that couldn’t feel good. And if frustration was the price for unlimited (public) kissing with Sasuke, then he’d gladly pay up.   


	7. Going out

**Part** **28: I wanna take you to a gay bar**

“Ugh, just look at them!”

“I thought you said you didn’t want to see them.”

Brushing back a few strands of pink hair, Sakura scowled at Ino before settling her gaze on the afore-mentioned couple again.

“Like anyone could _not_ see them. They’re doing it _all the time_ , right in front of us too! And I was so thankful before that they weren’t one of those overly cuddly couples.”

Ino followed Sakura’s line of vision, watching Naruto and Sasuke standing in front of one of the computers in the library where they currently were.

“I mean, _since when_ does Naruto even go to the library?”

Sakura crossed her arms and huffed. Naruto was hugging Sasuke from behind, mumbling things in his ear that were probably annoyingly sweet since Sasuke playfully (in reality it was more irritated than playful) swatted his mouth away. Not that it had any effect, and if the blond wasn’t saying things he nuzzled his nose into Sasuke’s cheek, and all in all they looked very much like a cute lovey-dovey couple.

“As painful as it is, I’ll have to agree with you,” Ino mused. “It’s been going on what, four days now?”

Sakura nodded, grimacing when Sasuke turned his head to glare at Naruto and instead ended up getting a kiss. And it lingered way too long for a public setting. Well, at least if you were unhappily single and just a little bit frustrated.

“Aargh _what is going on_?” Sakura groaned, slamming her bag onto the table in front of her and angrily fishing up her chap stick. “It’s like they suddenly realized they’re in love or something!”

“Hey guys, who are you trash-talking now?” Kiba asked, strolling up to them after finding the book he’d reluctantly been forced to borrow for an assignment. “You look like you just realized that other girls are hotter than you.”

“Why do we even know this guy?” Ino said to Sakura, who rolled her eyes and continued to sulk.

“Eww why are you spying on Naruto and Sasuke?”

Kiba had sat down beside them and discovered the amazing view of a certain blond and raven acting like they were fourteen or something.

“We’re not spying, we sat here first and then they decided to bother us,” Sakura answered. “Isn’t it just terrible?” she complained, looking to the brown-haired male for support.

“Nah, I’d say you were a lot worse with that guy last year, what was his name?”

Ino snorted, and Sakura had the decency to blush a little at the amused looks she got.

“So what?” she grumbled. “We’re talking _Naruto_ and _Sasuke_ here, not me and… what’s-his-name.”

“Well, whatever, I don’t have time to play jealous, I have to get home and prepare for my date tonight,” Kiba said smugly.

“With Hinata?” Ino asked expectantly.

“No not with Hinata. Jeez why do you always ask if it’s Hinata?” Kiba gave her a weird look.

“What, I think you two would look good together,” Ino defended herself with, Sakura nodding in agreement.

“I don’t know, dating a friend is a little weird…”

“ _They_ can obviously handle it,” Sakura said, with a pointed look in the direction of the two males that had now completely forgotten about the computer and seemed to have some sort of cute argument instead.

“…yeah. Smoothest couple of the year,” Kiba said sarcastically. “You know, if you’re so desperate to get a boyfriend you’ve resorted to stalking other couples, I suggest you head over to the science department with a sign saying ‘I’ll take anyone’, you could have ten boyfriends at the same time!”

Ino snickered as Sakura hit Kiba over the head, her eyes dangerously narrowed.

“The day I want to date a dork like you I’ll let you know,” she said haughtily, Kiba pouting and rubbing his new bruise and Ino breaking out in laughter.

When Kiba had left them, after a few more comments about him having a better sex life right now despite being a ‘dork’, Sakura sighed and lay down over the table, blowing some hair out of the way when it tickled her nose.

“Why aren’t I gay like those two?” she wailed, turning her head to glare at her supposed best friend when she laughed once again at her.

“You mean, ‘why aren’t you so hot that girls try to convert you’?”

“Ino-pig, don’t think I’ll let you off easy just because you’re blonde!”

“Ha! Pink forehead-girls are _so_ not in right now!”

“I could totally get a girlfriend if I wanted to!”

“I’ll believe that when I see it!”

“Fine! We’re going to a gay bar tonight and I’ll prove it!”

Ino gave Sakura a disbelieving look.

“They won’t even let you in, miss-I-stalk-guys-because-I’m-straighter-than-a-line.”

Sakura seethed for a second, but then looked confidently at Ino.

“We’ll bring _them,_ piece of cake,” she said and waved in the direction of Naruto and Sasuke.

“Fine,” Ino said. “But only ‘cause I wanna see some gay action.”

Sakura rolled her eyes.

“And if you lose, you have to wear my ‘blonde’s have more fun’ t-shirt for a week.”

“You’re on Ino-pig!”

xxx

“Why are we here again?”

“Because we’re gay, Sasuke!”

“… _you’re_ the gay one.”

“Whatever, it’s Friday night, bastard! My assignment’s handed in and I’m totally in the mood for a party!”

Sasuke scowled as they stood in line outside what was, apparently, _the_ hottest gay bar in town. And next to them stood Ino and Sakura, staring wide-eyed at all the couples and other random people around them.

“Doesn’t explain what _I’m_ doing here. Or they for that matter.”

“Oh come on baby, relax! It’ll be fun, I promise!”

Naruto put his arms around the small of Sasuke’s back, pulling him close and grinning widely. But worse than that were all the other males and occasional females undressing him with their eyes. There was a reason Sasuke didn’t like going to night clubs. Drunk people were usually harder to shake off than sober ones.

“I didn’t think I’d ever say this dobe, but if you leave my side tonight I’ll set fire to your ramen again, and this time I won’t miss the secret stash behind the washing machine.”

Naruto’s eyes widened in horror, and he hurriedly hugged him closer, almost clinging to him.

“You know what Sasuke? I think I’m just gonna keep a _very_ close eye on you. Wouldn’t want you to end up on your knees in a bathroom or something, right?”

“I’d feel touched if I hadn’t just threatened your ramen,” Sasuke muttered, sending a glare at a bulky guy eyeing him a little too interestedly.

 “Hmmm,” Naruto said, taking in all the people watching Sasuke hungrily.

Whistling shrilly, almost right in Sasuke’s ear, he caught the attention of most of the people in line.

“Hey!” he shouted. “See this guy here? Yeah, that’s right, this sexy piece of ass right here, he’s my fiancé and we’re getting married soon, so you can all just back the hell off!”

The shout was accompanied by a wide cocky grin, and Sasuke _really_ wanted to kick him where it hurts.

“What the _fuck_ is wrong with you Naruto?” he hissed, wincing at all the call-backs they got, most of them involving some kind of threesome and all of them extremely unappealing to him.

But Naruto just kept grinning cheekily, thanking some guys complimenting him on a good choice of wife, and it was only when Sasuke stomped on his foot that he turned his attention back on the glaring raven.

Before Sasuke had time to speak his mind though, Naruto hoisted him up in the air and spun him around, like a romantic scene in some kind of sappy movie. All sorts of interesting ways to kill a man and dispose of the body had time to flicker through his mind before Naruto put him down again, and, he really should have seen it coming, proceeded to smash their lips together in an attempt to recreate the kiss that always followed in those gagging movie scenes.

The only reason he didn’t break it off was because… because… umm…

When Naruto finally released his lips and let him breathe normally again, he felt his stomach do some kind of nervous flip-flop at the way those blue eyes were clouded over, watching him with, ugh, _lust_.

He just knew he was going to regret coming here tonight.

xxx

“Here you go guys!” Sakura shouted over the loud music, handing the three others a drink each. “There are _so_ many cute girls here tonight!” she chirped, two pairs of eyes watching her in surprise and one pair rolling.

“Oh yeah? And how close are you to finding that girlfriend?” Ino teased, chugging down her drink in a way that almost had Naruto jealous.

“It’s been ten minutes, calm down Ino I can’t just grab the first one I see!”

“Soo, this is a bet about Sakura getting a girlfriend?” Naruto asked, the two girls nodding at him. “Oh okay, just wanted to check. But you know, I think it’s a lot easier to get one if you don’t hide in a corner.”

And true enough, they were all squeezed in at a corner table, partly hidden from the dance floor and completely hidden from the bar.

“Shut up!” Sakura said with an indignant blush. “It was the only free space and you know it!”

“Just finish your drink forehead girl and we’ll go dancing instead,” Ino replied in a bored voice, sullenly watching her own empty glass.

Sakura muttered something that sounded like ‘we can’t all drink like pigs’, but did start drinking, finishing in maybe five minutes. After that both girls left, Ino dragging a hesitant Sakura who was probably second-guessing herself.

“For once,” Sasuke said in Naruto’s ear, “I think I can relate to Sakura.”

Naruto looked rather put out at that, glaring at his drink, and then noticed that Sasuke hadn’t even finished one fourth of his yet.

“Hey! What’s with the slow pace, you’re supposed to drink! I wanna dance too!”

Sasuke scowled and pursed his lips in distaste.

“Idiot. One: I don’t think drinking is a good idea and you should know why, two: there is no way in hell that I am going dancing.”

“Oh don’t be like that, dancing is fun!”

“It’s not.”

“It totally is!”

“You just want an excuse to molest me.”

“You make it sound like a crime…”

“…”

“But you said I could!”

Sasuke sighed, watching the blond pout for all of three seconds before brightening up again with some stupid idea. And sure enough, Naruto got out of his seat and instead straddled Sasuke, looking down at him smugly, drink in hand and their groins definitely too close for comfort.

“Get off moron!”

“Nu-uh no way!” Naruto shook his head childishly, grabbing the hand Sasuke used to push at his chest and instead putting it flat against it, slowly dragging it down and making Sasuke’s neck hair stand on end at the so obviously seducing move. They were in public for god’s sake!

…wait, public was the reason Naruto was doing this…

“If you drink I’ll get off, if it means we’re going dancing!”

Sasuke was torn. Drink and dance, or have a groping dobe in his lap? Because his hand had been released, and instead the tan one was drawing circles on his chest, following the letters on his t-shirt.

He honestly wasn’t surprised anymore that Kiba sometimes called Naruto the village whore.

Intercepting the wandering hand and pushing it back, he resolutely put his drink on the table and crossed his arms, just to show the stupid blond how much he wasn’t drinking tonight. As it turned out, that was mistake number one.

Naruto gave him a sour look, then his face lit up in that way that always made Sasuke want to forget about pride and run away and hide. The blond took a sip of his drink, put the drink on the table beside Sasuke’s, secured both his hands in Sasuke’s hair and then kissed him.

It wasn’t until Naruto forced his mouth open that Sasuke realized just what the hell the moron was up to, and he almost choked when he felt the liquid being literally kissed into his mouth. He didn’t want to get the mess all over himself, so he forced himself to swallow, his face in a disgusted grimace and his fist punching Naruto’s ribs.

“What the _fuck_ is wrong with you!” he shouted, a sense of déjà vu coming over him as it was the second time that night.

Wiping his mouth and coughing he glared murderously at the laughing blond, who was clutching his side in pain.

“You should see your face!” he gasped out, almost falling down on the floor but grabbing Sasuke to haul himself up again.

Deciding he’d had enough humiliation for one night, he chugged down his drink, then what was left of Naruto’s as well, and after pushing the blond to the floor he made his way over to the bar. He didn’t want to get drunk. Really, the plan was to stay sober and make sure nothing crazy happened, but he’d forgotten about Naruto’s ability to do crazy stuff while still sober. And if he got drunk enough, he might manage to wake up with no memory of tonight’s horrors. Obviously, this was mistake number two.

“What the hell, don’t ditch me like that! What if you _do_ end up cornered in a bathroom? Your parents would kill me!”

Naruto had snuck his arm around Sasuke, talking into his ear with his mouth brushing over it, and Sasuke decided that getting drunk seemed like the idea of the century. Why it slipped his mind that he could just go home, he would blame that on his brain being too tired after the killer exam he’d had earlier today.

“You’re going to drink all that?” Naruto asked once the bartender had placed a mixture of shots and drinks in front of them.

Sasuke shrugged.

“Half is yours if you think you can handle it.”

And well, considering the amount they did split between them, Sasuke couldn’t bring his fuzzy brain to be surprised when he found himself moving to the tasteless music blaring from the speakers, Naruto’s body brushing against his own as well as quite a few others in the crowded space.

Sasuke took pride in many things; dancing was not one of them. But he found himself being drawn into the beat by that overly excited fiancé of his, and thanks to said fiancé it wasn’t long until they were dancing much too close to be considered platonic.

Somewhere in the back of his mind he heard a rational voice jumping around shouting warnings and trying to get attention, but the rush through his body and the flickering lights and the pounding of the bass in his ears and chest easily drowned it out.

And if Naruto was touching him in places that he definitely would not have allowed even for the sake of appearance, then that was sober Sasuke’s problem tomorrow.

Because the way Naruto was breathing heavily in his ear, and those warm hands caressing his sweaty back, and the way their hips would sometimes connect, had Sasuke light-headed. And when Naruto pressed their lips together, briefly sucking on his tongue, he allowed himself to be walked backwards, his back connecting with a sticky wall.

It was like that first kiss, well first _real_ kiss they’d shared, only now the roles were reversed and it was Sasuke pressed up against a wall, Naruto’s body feeling heavy against him. He breathed shallowly through his nose, his mouth and tongue otherwise occupied, and those hands were everywhere, touching, feeling, caressing and making his body react in all sorts of embarrassing ways.

His hands were clutching at Naruto’s shirt, unconsciously pulling him closer, involuntarily bringing their lower parts together, and it was the foreign feeling of something distinctly not female that snapped Sasuke out of his frenzy.

Breaking off the alarmingly passionate kiss, he struggled as a tongue lapped at his neck instead.

Damn, he hadn’t gotten laid in so long.

Finally managing to push Naruto away, they stared breathlessly at each other as well as they could since the light was switching on and off with the up-tempo beat, and then he turned and made his way through the grinding mass of people. The way Naruto looked at him, fuck he couldn’t deal with that.

It wasn’t until Sasuke was outside the club and almost round the corner that Naruto managed to catch up to him.

“Damn it, Sasuke wait! We don’t even have our jackets or anything!”

Swearing to himself Sasuke stopped. No point in going home without the keys he’d left in his jacket in the wardrobe.

“Hey, what the hell, don’t just leave like that!” Naruto said once he got closer, walking around the not moving raven to stand in front of him.

“Hellooo, earth to Sasuke, are you in there?”

He waved his hand in front of the blank face until Sasuke flicked it away, glaring a little but otherwise not reacting.

“Come on, let’s just go back,” Naruto said, nervously rubbing the back of his neck and taking a few steps back towards the faint music.

“This was a fucking _stupid_ idea,” Sasuke gritted out, staring at the ground and crossing his arms.

It was a little cold to be outside in just a t-shirt, but at least it sobered him up a bit.

“ _So,_ we’ll just get the jackets and go home!”

Sasuke didn’t move. He seemed to be attempting to find the right words, gnawing on his lip and his eyebrows set in that ‘Naruto-I’m-so-pissed-at-you’ angle.  

“Naruto…” he started.

Naruto was on the verge of just running back, grabbing his jacket and then running home to lock himself inside the bathroom and not come out for at least a month. He knew he’d crossed the line. Oh he knew. He really didn’t need Sasuke to point it out, and he definitely didn’t want Sasuke to say something to make things even worse.

He just wanted to go home, sleep off his hangover and forget all about it. Well, at least forget about the screwing up-part, because damn that kiss…

“If you’re _that_ horny, just go fuck someone, I won’t tell.”

If Naruto had thought over a lot of possible things Sasuke might say, then that was certainly not one of them.

“Excuse me?” he asked, mouth gaping as he shook his head to rid it of the echoes of that bass beat, thinking he must have gotten it wrong.

“You heard me. I already said I feel bad about… anyway just go hook up with someone if you need it.”

Naruto stared at Sasuke. There was just no way Sasuke was saying something like this was there?

“For fuck’s sake bastard I told you I’m not cheating on you!”

“Well I’m telling you that it’s fine!”

“It didn’t sound like that last time you brought it up!”

“Well fuck last time! Don’t kiss me like that just because you’re horny!”

Naruto looked, if it was possible, even more shocked.

“What? What are you talking about?”

“I get it,” Sasuke said, looking to the side faintly embarrassed. “You like having sex often, I get that. So go have it. Don’t take your frustrations out on _me_.”

“Well I’m _sorry_ Sasuke but this has nothing to do with not having sex. I admit it sucks ass but it’s not like I can’t control myself. I just can’t help that I’m-“

“That you’re what?” Sasuke asked grumpily.

_That I’m so attracted to you it’s not even funny._

“Well it’s your own damn fault for being so hot!”

Sasuke glanced at him, then looked away again, his arms relaxing a little.

“So it’s not just that you’re horny?” he asked quietly.

“No, it’s not just that,” Naruto muttered.

Ugh, somehow things turned out so awkward, and for a moment they both just stood there not knowing how to continue, Sasuke still staring at the ground and Naruto looking anywhere besides at Sasuke with his cheeks burning.

“Let’s just get our coats,” Sasuke suggested.

“…yeah.”

 

**Part 29: Just another lazy Saturday**

 

Waking up, Sasuke found himself as usual in Naruto’s arms. The difference this time was that they were facing each other, morning breaths mixing and Sasuke’s lower arm in an uncomfortable angle.

Sighing, he studied the still sleeping moron’s face. He’d seen it so many times, he was sure that if he’d been somewhat artistically talented he could have painted it flawlessly from memory. So many mental pictures of Naruto… Why couldn’t he remember his textbooks that easily?

Naruto had his eyes closed, naturally, the blond eyelashes standing out against his tan skin. His mouth was slightly open to breathe, but all in all it was the same, unchanging obnoxious guy he’d come to get so close to. Unwillingly and without enthusiasm, he might add.

But still, if he was going to be honest, and Sasuke liked honesty as a concept even if he might not practice it as often as he should, he could be worse off.

Naruto’s eyelashes fluttered, and groaning something he removed his hand from around Sasuke’s waist to rub at his eyes, blinking before opening them and trying to focus on Sasuke.

“Umm, good morning,” he mumbled, looking fairly awkward at seeing Sasuke so close, and in such an unusually intimate position.

 _Good_ Sasuke thought, narrowing his eyes. _You’re supposed to squirm._

“Well?” he asked. “Are you going to apologize for last night?”

“Uuh, yeah, sorry… hey your hair looks really funny right now,” Naruto said and tugged at a few out of place spikes sticking out on top of his head.

“Don’t change the subject,” Sasuke said sourly, but felt too lazy to push the annoying hand off.

Naruto grinned, putting his arm around Sasuke’s waist again and pulling him a little bit closer.

“But grumpy Sasuke is so cute in the morning,” he teased, moving his other arm more comfortably underneath his head.

“I’m not grumpy, I have a hangover.”

Feigning a shocked look Naruto used his ‘serious’ voice to answer.

“Sasuke! If you wake up every morning with a hangover I think we need to talk about your drinking pro-“

Failing to dodge the smack on his nose he changed to a look of mock hurt.

“Don’t you love me anymore?” he said with a trembling lower lip, unable to keep it up when Sasuke just raised an eyebrow, instead breaking out in chuckles.

“Dobe.”

“Aww come on bastard, don’t be so boring, it’s Saturday and we have nothing to do today!”

“I thought we were meeting your friends later”.

“ _Our_ friends. But that’s not until three o’clock, we have-“ he paused to raise his head and read the numbers on the alarm next to the bed, “three hours left, let’s just sleep some more.”

And with that he proceeded to snuggle closer to Sasuke, his nose pressing against his cheek, and pretty much forcing him to put his head on Naruto’s arm. Oh, Sasuke could see the smug smile tugging at the idiot’s lips, but feeling way too tired and with a head that felt like it was made of a pad of cotton full of rusty nails stabbing at it, he sighed and snuggled right back.

He could take a break from dignity now and then, right?  

xxx

“Oh. My. God. Sakura that is the most awesome shirt I have seen in a century! You _must_ tell me where you bought it!”

Sakura glared at Naruto, not finding his interpretation of some kind of gay fashion slave funny at all.

“I know, isn’t it simply amazing!?” Ino added, clasping her hands together and staring at it with shiny eyes.

“It fits you,” Sasuke added, getting his revenge since it was Sakura’s idea in the first place to drag them to that bar.

Pretending to tear up Sakura stared at him with a much less effective hurt look than Naruto had had this morning.

“I can’t believe the first time you comment on my clothes is to mock me, Sasuke. That’s just so, so-“

“I’d say he has a point,” Neji mused, “the yellow fabric and sparkling text really matches your eyes.”

“I hate you,” Sakura pouted. “All of you, you can just-“

“Sakura my youthful friend! Where is the beautiful girl you promised to have by your side from today onwards?” Lee shouted, jumping up to them and throwing an arm around the sulking pink-haired girl.

“Or have a freak accident and choke on air or something,” she continued with narrowed eyes, prying the as always green-clad enthusiastic guy off.

“Umm, I- I think it’s really nice,” Hinata mumbled, her honest try at adding to the ‘compliments’ causing Naruto and Ino to howl with laughter.  

“By the way, Naruto,” Sakura said in her scary voice, pinning him down with another glare, “What’s up with suddenly ditching us like that?”

“Y-yeah,” Ino forced out in-between laughs, calming down a little before continuing. “I mean, one second you’re getting it on all smexy and stuff, and the next you… wait a minute did you desert us to have sex? I’m insulted!”

Sasuke tried not to blush, he really did, but something about the way she said it caused him to remember a few of those ‘smexy’ moments and made him unable to stop the faint reddening of his cheeks.

“Oh my god, Sasuke you look so cute right now!” Naruto exclaimed and pulled at his cheeks, ignoring the embarrassed death glare Sasuke furiously gave him. “Maybe we should ditch them and go have sex again!”

“Sure, you do that,” Sasuke gritted out through clenched teeth. “I’ll just go buy myself a chainsaw in case you’re stupid enough to get near me again.”

“Ooh burn,” Ino snickered, gulping and hiding behind Sakura when Sasuke turned his attention momentarily to her.

“Sorry guys, Sasuke is a little grumpy today,” Naruto said with a cheeky grin. “Hey teme, if you ever get a pet the Grumpy Cat would be sooo perfect!”

Sasuke closed his eyes and sighed, hearing the others laughing or adding their own stupid comments. What the hell was he doing here?

“Naruto,” he almost whined (almost because Uchihas never whine), “why did you have to bring me with you?”

Naruto snorted and pecked his lips, causing him to open his eyes again to give him a put out look.

“Because if I let you stay home you’d sit on the couch molding, really you should be thankful I entertain you! Besides, I’ve got orders from your dad.”

Before Sasuke had time to ask what those ‘orders’ included, Kiba arrived, completing today’s group and immediately stealing Naruto’s short attention span.

Looks like he was resorting to sulk in silence for a few hours.


	8. Because

**Part 30: But Sasuke, it’s funny**

 

Slouching tiredly into the bathroom, Sasuke wished it was night instead of morning and that he was on his way to bed, not from it. And it didn’t help that he hadn’t slept that well either.

Opening the tap, he jumped backwards automatically, staring dumbly at the water spraying all over his pajamas. When his brain managed to catch up he hurriedly closed it again, a sinking feeling of dread in his stomach.

No.                          

Just no.

Angrily tearing the tape off that had directed the water all over the place instead of into the sink, he nervously checked his surroundings.

He’d fucking _told_ Naruto he didn’t want to deal with April Fool’s jokes this year!

Berating himself for the fact that he didn’t notice anything suspicious with the fact that Naruto had taken such care to go to bed later than him last night, he opened the cabinets to inspect the items inside. Toothpaste seemed fine, toothbrush as well, he shuddered remembering last year when he’d brushed his teeth with ‘wasabi toothpaste’ instead. Shaving gel, fine. Shampoo? Also fine.

After taking a hesitant shower and brushing his teeth, he dried his face with the small towel next to the sink.

Idiot! Letting his guard down like that! He glared at his face in the mirror, now covered in a million tiny pieces of glitter.

He was _fucking sparkling_.

Trying to scrub it off, he gave up with some of it still left, catching the light when he turned his head.

He was going to kill that annoying moron!

But first he needed coffee, or he might end up killing him for real.

Walking cautiously towards the kitchen, he managed to avoid the slimy goo covering parts of the floor. Reaching the kitchen however, and opening the door, resulted in a bowl of flour falling onto his head with a smack, covering him in white and making him cough and blindly retreat, so that he of course stepped in some of that nasty slime.

“NARUTOOOO!!!” he yelled, not caring if he woke up the neighbors.

He was _not_ in the mood for this right now.

Stomping over to the bedroom when the blond made no sound of recognition, he slammed the door open and glared death at the laughing asshole sitting up in bed.

“It’s not funny! I just showered you fucking piece of shit!”

Naruto stopped laughing, looking surprised.

“What? Why would you shower before going into the kitchen?”

“I always shower first.”

“No you don’t.”

“Yes I do.”

“No you-“

“Dammit Naruto this is the wrong, _fucking_ day for this! I’ve got a presentation today, I am not in the slightest prepared for it and this is going to be a completely _shitty_ day, so if you’ve made any more traps, _please_ just get rid of them.”

“But Sasukeee, I-“

“ _Now_.”

Pouting Naruto got out of bed, snickering as he took in the sight of the flour-covered raven again, but gulping when he got another scary glare.

When Sasuke came out of the bathroom after his second shower, Naruto was drying the slimy stuff off the floor.

“Why would you even do that?” Sasuke asked tiredly.

“But Sasuke, it’s funny…” Naruto trailed off, eyes widening when he realized that Sasuke was only wearing a towel, water still dribbling down his neck and chest.

“I’ll dry it off with your face, _then_ you can say it’s funny.”

“Yeah…”

When Sasuke gave him a weird look he blushed, but damn if a half-naked Sasuke stood in front of you, towel dangerously low, then _not_ checking him out would be a terrible crime.

Not aware of the perverted thoughts running through Naruto’s brain, Sasuke turned around and strutted off to get dressed.

 _Dat ass_ was pretty much the only coherent thought Naruto was able to produce as he followed him with his eyes, licking his lips unconsciously. Oh this was just torture!

Forgetting all about slimy floors, he followed the raven in a trance, catching him going through his wardrobe.

“Uh, Naruto? I was going to change…”

Not responding, Naruto walked up to Sasuke and turned him around fully, almost causing him to lose balance and forcing him to grab a hold of the wardrobe, towel slipping down a little more. Leaning close, he mumbled into Sasuke’s ear.

“Bad day huh? Maybe I can cheer you up.”

Putting both hands on each side of Sasuke to prevent escape, he kissed his neck, moving upwards and ignoring the protesting noises coming out of Sasuke’s mouth.

“Naruto what the hell… don’t…”

Silencing him by pressing their lips together, Naruto got a little closer, one hand moving to Sasuke’s back instead and slowly travelling up and down. Putting the palm flat against his back he pulled him close, his other hand sliding up his chest, squeezing the hand still holding up the towel between them.

Flicking a finger over a nipple, he couldn’t help groaning into Sasuke’s mouth, a small twitch in the brunet’s body making him want to touch all sorts of other places.

Breaking it off with an almost gasp, Sasuke pushed him down onto the floor, catching him by surprise. Staring down at him with an unreadable look on his face, Sasuke swallowed and dried his mouth with the back of one hand. Glancing down again, and then quickly away, his body language screaming ‘uncomfortable’, he waved his hand in the general direction of Naruto.

“Maybe you should… go take care of that.”

Not getting what Sasuke meant at first, Naruto shot up after a few seconds, cheeks redder than a tomato and his eyes looking at anything besides Sasuke.

“Uuh, sorry…” he mumbled awkwardly, turning around to exit the room as fast as possible.

At the door though, he hesitated and glanced back at Sasuke. He was staring at something across the room, fingers clenched tightly around the towel, the other hand unconsciously brushing over his lips.

Naruto better leave now or he’d come just from the sight of him. 

 

**Part 31: Because**

 

“So, Naruto, are you going to take up space for long? I mean, should I get you an extra mattress or something?”

“This isn’t funny, Kiba.”

“Okay wait, how is you pulling pranks on Sasuke even though you _know_ he’ll kill you for it, and then you’re surprised he’s mad, _not_ funny?”

Naruto groaned into his arms, he was lying over Kiba’s kitchen table and trying to stall before going home again.

“Honestly Kiba, that’s not the real issue here.”

“Yeah well, you know you can come to me for everything man, but if a wife is mad then a wife is mad, and it doesn’t get better if you hide from them,” Kiba said wisely and patted his back.

“Since when do _you_ know anything about wives?”

Kiba shrugged.

“My old man is known to share his wisdom now and then.”

“Yeah right…”

“So what’s the problem then?”

Naruto didn’t answer, he just groaned again.

“Don’t tell me you’re getting cold feet?” Kiba teased. “Wedding’s just a month away right?”

“Don’t remind me,” Naruto whined. _It’s more like the opposite of cold feet though_ he thought to himself.

“Sheesh Naruto, just go home, apologize, and have some nice make-up sex. If he’s put up with you this far then I doubt a few pranks will make a difference.”

Naruto glanced up at Kiba, who was leaning his hands on the table and giving him one of his rare serious looks.

“Be happy you have someone like that to go home to at all, we’re not all as lucky as you you know.”

Thinking about it, it _was_ kind of mean of him to come whine to Kiba who’d just gotten dumped for the third time in two months.

“Yeah, you’re right, thanks for putting up with me.”

“It was a close call.”

Naruto threw Kiba a half-hearted glare, but got up from the position he’d kept for about four hours now. He hadn’t been stalling so much because of Sasuke being mad, because honestly this year was nothing compared to last time. Sasuke had thrown him out of the flat in only boxers, refusing to let him in again until three hours later, by which time he was pretty hungry and in need of a bathroom.

It was more the fact that he was _really_ horny.

Just thinking about Sasuke in a towel this morning… damn there was a reason he’d been going to the bathroom more often than usual today just to calm down. But Kiba was right, no point in sitting here like a coward.

xxx

“Where have you been?”

The irritated question made Naruto pause, hand on the door handle and one foot still outside.

“Umm… I was at Kiba’s.”

Sasuke’s eyes narrowed.

“Really?”

“Yes really, why would I lie?”

Naruto walked inside, kicking his shoes off and giving Sasuke a questioning look.

“I don’t know, I just… you had your phone turned off.”

“Yeah, the battery died.”

Sasuke had his arms crossed, staring at the floor with pursed lips.

“Were you worried?” Naruto asked in surprise.

“Hn, as if. I just wanted to know if you needed dinner.”

Sasuke glared at him for a second, then turned around and walked into the kitchen. Hesitantly, Naruto followed. There were a few books and spread out papers on the table, so apparently Sasuke was in the middle of studying. He sat down opposite of him.

“Food’s in the fridge,” Sasuke said, resuming whatever he was working on.

“Thanks,” Naruto mumbled.

He observed Sasuke for a few minutes, just watching him absentmindedly, the way he tapped his pencil against his lower lip whenever he got stuck.

“Aren’t you going to eat?”

Naruto shrugged, resting his chin in one hand.

“My mother will scold me if you don’t.”

Naruto raised an eyebrow, the corner of his lip twitching.

“Sorry. I’m not really hungry.”

Sasuke leaned back in his seat, fixating him with narrowed eyes.

“Wanna have sex then?”

Naruto sat up too quickly in shock, and fell off his chair in a loud crash.

“W-what?” he squeaked out.

He saw Sasuke’s head appearing over the edge of the table, he was leaning over it to see him sprawled out on the floor.

“April Fool’s,” he said, smirking at the gaping blond.

“Sasuke! Dammit you can’t, that’s not even, gah you evil bastard!”

Groaning in defeat Naruto lay down on the floor, putting one arm over his eyes. Whether he deserved that or not, it was still so mean!

He heard Sasuke get out of the chair and walk around the table, and glancing up he found him squatting down beside him.

“You know what they say Naruto,” he said and poked his arm. “Abstinence is good for the soul.”

Making strangled noises Naruto sat up again, glaring at the bastard.

“Who the fuck would say that?! No one would fucking say that Sasuke!”

Sasuke rolled his eyes, but then he stared at Naruto for a few seconds, meeting annoyed blue. Seemingly coming to some sort of decision he stood up again and left the room. Not really in any mood to care, Naruto eased backwards until his back met cupboards and proceeded to lean against them. This wasn’t going so great was it?

When a piece of paper was dangled in front of his eyes, he looked up at Sasuke. But Sasuke wasn’t looking at him, he seemed to have an inner battle going on.

“Just take this, and go get rid of that tension,” he said awkwardly but in a voice that wouldn’t take no for an answer.

Focusing on the paper, Naruto realized that it looked like a cut out magazine page, and on further inspection…

“Oh. My. God!”

Ripping the page out of Sasuke’s hand he stared at it, not believing his eyes.

“What the hell is this and how come I haven’t seen it before?!”

The page contained a commercial for something unimportant, the important part was that the full body picture was of Sasuke, wearing only swim trunks (pretty tight ones too) on a beach and looking _so incredibly hot_.

“…I modeled once,” Sasuke mumbled, then reached for his arm and hoisted him up to his feet. “And now,” he continued, starting to walk Naruto backwards out of the kitchen, opting to look somewhere in the direction of his chest instead of eyes, “you’ll do whatever you have to do so I won’t have to sleep with your thing poking me in the back all night. Again.”

Eyes wide like saucepans and mouth gaping like a fish, Naruto tried to say something but failed, suddenly finding himself pushed into their bedroom with a door slammed to his face. Did Sasuke just… Did Sasuke just tell him to _masturbate_ to a picture of _himself_???!!!

Naruto was shocked beyond words. Glancing down at the ad he swallowed, his mouth suddenly dry.

Well, that picture was just too sexy.

Sasuke was leaning against a palm tree, his skin looking as if he’d been soaked in some kind of oil, eyes looking into the camera with a look that definitely stirred things up, his posture relaxed as if he was simply enjoying a day at the beach.

Irrationally jealous of the photographer able to inspire such a look from Sasuke, he walked over to the bed in a trance and lay down on his back. Biting his lip he could feel himself being already half-hard but…

There was something about this that just felt so wrong.

But Sasuke had given the picture to him, telling him to go ahead, so there shouldn’t be a problem with this right? And god knows he was ready to go.

Groaning in frustration he rolled over to his stomach, burying his nose in the pillow.

It smelled like Sasuke.

Feeling his cheeks heat up, he thought of Sasuke’s expression as he’d led him to the bedroom. He was just so…

Oh god there was no way he could do this was there? Getting off to a picture of Sasuke, with Sasuke _knowing_ exactly what he was doing…

That’s not what he wanted.

He wanted Sasuke to be here with him, he wanted his body moving against his own, hear his heartbeat, his loud pants…

He wanted Sasuke to want this too.

But for Sasuke to do something like this, even after what Naruto had done this morning, or maybe _because_ of this morning…

Even if Sasuke didn’t feel the same, Naruto cared too much about him to use him like this, even if it was just a picture.

Even if he was so hard it hurt.

Sitting up again, swinging his legs over the edge and face in his hands, he groaned again. He thought of Jiraiya wearing a thong and dancing can-can and managed to get in control after a few painful minutes.

Walking into the kitchen with determination, he found Sasuke tense and staring unseeingly into his book. He stretched out the paper towards him.

“Thanks but, I can’t… Doesn’t it make you feel uncomfortable?” he blurted out.

Sasuke shrugged, making no move to accept it back.

“I doubt you’d be the first one using that picture for something like that.”

“But Sasuke I…”

Sighing he slumped down into his seat, dragging a hand through his hair and swallowing the lump in his throat.

“It’s just wrong. I can’t do it, not like that. I just… I prefer the real you, and since I can’t have that, there’s no point to this picture. I’m sorry.”

He didn’t know why he was apologizing, but Sasuke reached his hand out and carefully took the ad from him, glancing at it before putting it upside-down next to him.

Not knowing what else to do, Naruto stood up again and mumbled that he’d just go to bed.

An hour later, and far from falling asleep, he opened his eyes when he heard Sasuke enter, a beam of light through the door momentarily blinding him. He heard Sasuke undress in the darkness, fumbling for his pajamas and hissing out a curse when he almost stumbled.

Getting under the covers, he reached a hand out to find Naruto, moving closer once he did.

Naruto was on his back, so Sasuke put an arm over his chest and laid his head against his shoulder, snuggling his nose into it.

“Sasuke?” Naruto asked quietly.

“Shut up. Go to sleep.”

Hesitantly putting his arms around Sasuke’s body, he exhaled shakily and pressed his mouth to soft hair.

There was no point in struggling anymore, and no way he could deny it, the bastard just had a talent for surprising him and squeezing his heart.

Because he loved Sasuke.


	9. Drunk on you

**Part 32: The porn incident**

“Hey, Sasuke?”

Sasuke glanced at him, but didn’t answer.

“Can I ask you a question?”

“Please don’t.”

“Bastard! I’ll ask you anyway!”

Naruto glared at Sasuke. They were currently at the tailor that ‘Grandma’ as she wanted Naruto to call her nowadays had picked for them, and now they were having a brief pause as the woman in charge of their suits had gone off to make some changes or whatever.

“That picture you showed me a week ago… why did you only model once?”

Sasuke made a small grimace.

“I lost a bet to my father,” he mumbled, immediately glaring when Naruto made a surprised sound.

“Whoa for real? Damn I really like your dad.”

Naruto grinned cheekily, and Sasuke rolled his eyes. He was tempted to tell Naruto that wasn’t the worst thing he’d ever been made to do, but he didn’t really want questions about the other stuff.

“And what about your dad? I mean if he lost?”

Sasuke smirked.

“He would have had to do the same.” 

Naruto blinked slowly, then got a faintly nauseous look on his face.

“I’m very happy you lost then.”

Sasuke shrugged, inspecting the small room they stood in instead.

“Hey teme?” Naruto said after a few minutes of silence.

Sasuke turned his head, and was surprised by a quick peck on his lips.

“What was that for?” he asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Just felt like it,” Naruto said with a small smile, then opted to look around the room as well, humming a quiet tune to himself.

The way that smile made something in Sasuke’s stomach flutter, that was bad news indeed.

xxx

Naruto sighed, pressing ‘play’ on the video. He was alone at home, Sasuke was off doing something with a school assignment, and even if Naruto really needed to study he was just too tense right now. So yeah, he’d decided to have a meeting with Mr. Right before Sasuke came back.

Pursing his lips at the low quality he decided to find another video, ending up going through quite a few before he managed to find one that caught his interest.

Spending so much time with someone like Sasuke had made him picky.

Five minutes into the sex scene he groaned in frustration. This just wasn’t good enough anymore! Cursing under his breath he gave up, and let his mind stray to thoughts of his bastard fiancé.

Well, that certainly did the trick.

Just as he’d gotten into a good rhythm he heard footsteps approaching the door, and with eyes wide in fear to get caught he threw the covers over his lower parts barely a second before Sasuke entered.

“So the-“ Sasuke stopped, taking in the scene in front of him.

Naruto had an indignant blush on his face, legs bent up and the covers drawn over them, and if those weren’t enough clues then the moaning from his computer was.

“Dammit Sasuke, what are you doing home?! I mean get out!”

Sasuke looked thoughtful, as if he weighed two options against each other, and then promptly closed the door and walked over to the bed.

Naruto thought his eyes were going to pop out of their sockets as they followed the raven’s walk around the bed to crawl onto the empty side. Making himself comfortable next to Naruto he tried to see the screen, but Naruto held it away from him.

“What are you doing?” he asked incredulously.

Sasuke shrugged.

“Sakura’s out there, so I figured I’d want to kill myself less if I watched porn with you.”

Naruto was speechless. His mouth opened and closed, his brain not functioning anymore as Sasuke took the computer from him and looked critically at the screen.

“That doesn’t look very comfortable,” he commented, since one guy lay with his shoulders against the floor and his ass on the bed as the other guy fucked him. Taking in the whole webpage he looked thoughtful again. “I didn’t know there were websites just for gay porn,” he mumbled to himself.

“Well what did you think, that I’d watch straight porn?” Naruto asked, finally able to speak again.   

Sasuke didn’t answer, he just watched the video for a few more seconds and then leaned over Naruto and kissed him.

If Naruto had been shocked before it was nothing compared to now. It was a slow kiss, lips molding against each other for a second and then simply brushing, Naruto’s breaths shaky and his heart beating like mad when Sasuke pressed them together again.

His body was screaming ‘YES!’ but somewhere in the back of his head an alarm was ringing loudly. But Sasuke’s mouth felt so good on his, and he moaned helplessly when he traced the raven’s lips with his tongue. Sasuke just tasted so good, like, like…

Finally catching up to his brain he pushed Sasuke away, panting and staring at his flushed expression.

“What the fuck Sasuke, you’re drunk!”

Sasuke gave him a blank stare.

“I’m not drunk.”

“Then _why_ do you taste like Sangria! How much of it did you drink?”

Naruto gripped Sasuke’s arms, almost shaking him in frustration. Why did Sasuke have to turn gay and horny every time he drank?! _Only_ when he drank. He really wouldn’t mind a sober gay and horny Sasuke.

“That reddish sugary shit? Maybe half a liter.”

Naruto groaned, letting his head fall down on Sasuke’s shoulder.

“There’s red wine in that you moron! Wait,” he narrowed his eyes, raising his head to search Sasuke’s eyes. “You shouldn’t get this drunk just from that. When was the last time you ate?”

“I had coffee this morning,” Sasuke shrugged.

Naruto shook his head slowly, counting to ten in his head and realizing the porno was still on. Sighing he turned it off, letting go of Sasuke to stand up. Catching himself at the last second when he remembered his lower body’s state if undress, he muttered to himself as he reached underneath the covers to tuck himself in again. Getting off the bed he pointed at Sasuke with a stern look.

“Stay there, I’ll get you some food. Don’t do something stupid.”

For safety reasons he brought his computer with him, almost dropping it when he met Sakura outside the room.

“Hey Naruto, I was just coming to check if you were going to pay attention to me or not. Sasuke was acting a little weird…”

“Uh, yeah, you know this is kind of a bad time, can we talk later?” He pushed Sakura towards the door. “’Kay thanks see you later!”

Once she was safely outside, he looked down at his crotch with a mourning expression. That could have been such a good orgasm. Oh well, bathroom it is.

Coming back later with a cup of instant ramen and a large glass of milk Sasuke looked like he was sleeping peacefully, laying on his side with his head on his arm. He opened his eyes when Naruto sat down beside him though, yawning and sleepily rubbing his face.  

Way too cute.

Then he glared.

“Ramen?” he asked in disdain, eyeing the cup warily as he sat up.

“It’s better than nothing, just eat it.”

Sasuke gulped down half of the milk and then reluctantly started eating the ramen, his stomach growling.

“Bastard, you’re always nagging me to eat properly and then you don’t eat yourself! What would you do without me huh?”

Sasuke snorted.

“I’d be sober probably, don’t leave drinks like that in the fridge when I’m low on blood sugar.”

Naruto rolled his eyes, watching Sasuke slurping up the noodles with an annoyed expression.

“You almost gave me a heart attack you know.”

Sasuke ignored him. With another sigh, Naruto decided to just drop it. That strategy had worked pretty well so far, and it certainly prevented unnecessary fighting.

Maybe he was growing up. What a horrible thought.  

 

**Part 33: I’m not sure I can pretend anymore**

 

There was a reason Sasuke had never had a girlfriend. Besides the fact that most people and definitely girls annoyed him to the point where he didn’t even stay around to say no after they’d asked him out, he dreaded the infamous ‘meet the family’ scenario.

He’d seen the movies.

Heard the stories.

And knowing how crazy his own family is, he didn’t really like the thought of joining a second one.

Naruto’s parents had arrived on the evening the day before yesterday, and yesterday Naruto showed them around the city and just spent time with them, something Sasuke was fortunately spared from since he had an important assignment to finish.

Really, their wedding which was only two weeks from now might be held after exams, but all the preparations were seriously cutting in on his study time. He wasn’t the only one feeling the pressure, Naruto was working hard as well, and there simply wasn’t enough time to do stupid things anymore, so things had been quiet for a while.

He liked quiet.

Sure, Naruto still kissed him and touched him and cuddled him and whatever, but besides that… _incident_ with the sangria everything had been sunshine and roses.

It was very unsettling.

And facing Naruto’s parents was not something he’d looked forward to, but unfortunately he was now on his way to meet them, they were staying at his parent’s house. As if they couldn’t do enough damage just being in the same city.

Naruto didn’t seem nervous though, quite the opposite actually. This was his chance to get back at Sasuke for the first times he’d met the Uchiha family. And _that_ of course made Sasuke very nervous.

He knew his family had been waiting for this chance. There was a reason they’d been nagging him to get into a relationship ever since he turned thirteen or something, and this was that reason.

To make fun of him.

So he thought his non-existent enthusiasm had a good explanation.

“Sasuke, are you coming? Don’t park the car and just sit there like a zombie, you’re creeping me out!”

Sasuke pouted -yes he actually pouted!- and scowled at the overly happy blond.

“Come oooon, it’s not that bad, my parents are nice I promise!”

Naruto stretched his hand out, he’d rounded the car and opened Sasuke’s door for him, grinning widely. Sasuke sighed but took the offered hand, getting out and locking the car.

It felt different walking up to the house this time compared to the previous ones. They hadn’t been there together since the engagement party, which his family was kind of pissed at, but apart from the obvious changes in temperature and scenery, it felt more natural. Because Naruto was always there lately, holding his hand and talking endlessly about nothing and everything, always so… _vibrant_.

He didn’t want to think about the crazy fact that Naruto was actually going through with this for him, because that led to thoughts of why he was going through it himself…   

Let’s not go there at the moment, there were more pressing matters at hand.

Like the woman with flaming red hair speeding towards them from the open front door. Sasuke swallowed nervously, but Naruto squeezed his hand reassuringly and suddenly pulled him forwards to meet her at a run.

This family really hugged too firmly.

Finally able to breathe again he found himself face to face with Kushina. He’d like to pretend he wasn’t scared, but something about the way she scrutinized him made him want to apologize for a lot of things he’d done. And that just wasn’t nice to his Uchiha soul. Then she smiled at him.

“Well, at least they didn’t lie when they said you were pretty!”

Sasuke almost choked as Naruto started laughing, Kushina grinning at him with a glint in her eyes.

“Oh be nice to him mom, he’s not used to your crazy antics.”

Naruto hugged him close from the side, nuzzling their cheeks together and making Kushina chuckle.

“Well he sure seems used to yours!”

“Oh please shoot me now,” Sasuke mumbled to himself, rolling his eyes when Naruto gave him a loud peck on his cheek before letting go.

That’s when he noticed Minato had snuck up on them.

“Sasuke, it’s nice to finally meet you,” the blond older version of Naruto said and shook his hand.

Sasuke nodded, too nervous to say something. He should have given Naruto more credit for the engagement party. It all seemed so long ago now. Yes, inner Sasuke was crying a little. Especially since Naruto’s parents knew the truth, they couldn’t be very happy with him, even though they acted like it.

“Come on, let’s get inside! I’m starting to get hungry, and Mikoto’s cooking is just amazing!” Kushina shouted and started running back to the house.  

Naruto chuckled, scratching his neck a little in that nervous habit.

“So… she’s kinda energetic. But not so bad right?”

It took Sasuke a few seconds to realize that it was actually a question directed at him. Minato had followed his wife, but Naruto weren’t making any moves to do the same. Instead, he was sort of awkwardly looking at Sasuke, swinging his hands back and forth and biting his lip.

Sasuke glanced up at the house; he could easily see everyone watching, as they thought, sneakily. Taking a deep breath he put his arms loosely around Naruto’s neck, meeting his fleeting blue gaze and steadying it.

“I think I’ll survive,” he mumbled, smirking slightly.  

Naruto looked down, and slowly a bright smile formed on his lips. It was one of those smiles Sasuke had trouble ignoring.

“Hey,” he whispered, feeling somehow caught up in the strange mood that appeared, “let’s give them some romance, alright?”

Naruto looked up in surprise, but turned to see their families spying on them when Sasuke nodded his head towards them. Grinning he put his arms around the small of Sasuke’s back and pushed him closer, their foreheads bumping and mouths brushing lightly.

“I can do that,” he whispered back, his heart speeding up with the tension in the air and the way Sasuke was so relaxed, even smiling a teeny tiny bit.  

Eyelids falling to half-mast, Naruto closed the distance, capturing Sasuke’s lower lip between his own for a second before he started to move slowly, Sasuke responding and letting him take the lead for once. He tightened his hold, their thighs and chests pressed together and creating that connection Naruto’s body craved every second they were separated.

He tilted his head to the right, one hand moving upwards to take a hold of dark hair, pushing their mouths harder against each other. He felt his body melting into Sasuke’s warmth, as if the mild April weather had been freezing him up until now.

How was he supposed to stop?

And Sasuke was holding him so tightly too, his arms almost painfully clasped around his neck.

All the blood rushing through his body… he really should stop.

He should.

Why couldn’t he just stop dammit!

Thankfully (painfully) Sasuke separated their lips, but only just enough so they could breath. With close to trembling fingers Naruto moved the hand in Sasuke’s hair down to his neck instead, brushing the side of his throat and then upwards, over his cheek, his thumb stroking over a dark eyebrow. His other hand squeezed Sasuke’s side for a moment before letting go as he took a step backwards, the fingers touching his face slowly falling as well.

Not looking at him, and voice thicker than usual, Naruto told him they should probably get going.

But Sasuke didn’t feel like going anywhere.

In fact, he felt very much like staying in the exact same spot.

Because if he moved, he wasn’t sure he could pretend that there wasn’t a scary amount of butterflies in his stomach just waiting to burst out through his mouth.

To pretend that his lips weren’t tingling.

That there wasn’t a painful lump in his throat.

And that his brain was functioning.

It was a good thing Naruto came back to grab his hand and pull him along.   

 

**Part 34: A picture says more than a thousand words**

 

Dinner was… oddly cozy. And his parents were so genuinely nice to Sasuke! Maybe it was because they’d apparently become such close friends with Fugaku and Mikoto and even with his grandmother, all traces of the annoyance and worry they’d showed at Christmas gone. Come to think of it, they’d been acting positive for a pretty long time actually.

He was taking a short break in conversing with the others; leaning back in his chair and sipping on his wine (why was it always wine?) and observing everyone else. The parents plus Grandma were excitedly discussing some sports event that would be held during summer, and Itachi and Sasuke were having a moment of brotherly love.

Or well, Itachi was teasing Sasuke who looked like an angry hedgehog.

He couldn’t help smiling at the sight, and when Sasuke glanced at him he smiled even wider. Surprisingly the raven blushed faintly and looked away, punching Itachi’s arm when he whispered something in his ear.

There was just no end to the things Sasuke would do to make him hope. He hoped, longed and wished to be close to him, and it didn’t even bother him (besides perhaps physically) that sex was off limits. As long as Sasuke was as much his as possible.

God he was turning into some mushy love-sick fool wasn’t he?

But he couldn’t help loving this feeling, sitting here at the table with their families (minus godparents but they’d get here soon enough), everyone looking content and happy. He pushed all doubts and worrying thoughts away for later, determined to enjoy this moment while it lasted.

Itachi tugged at his shirt, leaning in to whisper in his ear.

“I’ve got something to show you later, you’ll like it.”

Giving Itachi a questioning look he was met with complete innocence.

“What? What did he say?” Sasuke asked in a suspicious tone, but Itachi just waved dismissively at him.

“It’s guy stuff, little brother, nothing for you to worry about.”

And that of course started another round of the sibling war.

xxx

“Psst! Naruto!”

Naruto turned around in surprise on his way back to the living room after using the bathroom. Itachi waved at him from behind a door, and curiously Naruto went over to him.

“What-“

Itachi hurriedly put a hand over his mouth, blinking at him, and Naruto couldn’t help but remember all those stories of evil Sasuke had told him about his brother. Maybe he was going to experience one now?

Walking into the room he saw that it was another living room, but a much smaller one that looked like it was used for less formal things like watching a movie. On the coffee table in front of the comfy sofa were what looked like three photo albums, and Naruto instantly grinned.

This could only be good right?

Seeing Itachi grin back he sat down beside him on the sofa.

He wasn’t disappointed.

There were cute baby pictures: Sasuke as a newborn with a cute tuft of fluffy hair, Sasuke crawling in diapers with wide curious eyes, Sasuke happily playing with Itachi…

There were lots of Sasuke’s early years: Wearing adorable outfits, sleeping with his often reappearing unicorn plushie, eating with the food mostly smeared across his face, and of course Itachi’s personal favorite, the picture with Sasuke kissing a frog.

Naruto was definitely getting a copy of that one.

Starting to reach Sasuke age eight the real Sasuke walked in, immediately glaring when he saw the albums.

“I should have known,” he muttered, crossing his arms and trying to burn a hole through his brother’s head.

“Oh come on, Sasuke, come here,” Naruto said, reaching his arm out and beckoning for him to come closer.

Sasuke scowled at him for a few more seconds, but relented when Naruto gave him a stern look. Itachi watched in amusement as Sasuke sat down with some space between him and Naruto, and then Naruto put his arm around him and pulled him close.

“Look here, Sasuke, it’s hard to believe a bastard like you were so adorable as a kid!”

“I wasn’t adorable.”

“But little brother, look at this picture. Don’t you remember, it was the first time we went skiing together! You were so scared!”

On the picture was a tiny Sasuke covered in thick red ski-clothing and a bright red helmet with matching goggles slowly making his way down a small slope.

Needless to say, Sasuke scowled at his brother and pushed his elbow into the laughing blond’s ribs. He didn’t have any other choice than to endure though, Naruto held him too tight and Itachi kept talking about the pictures, and eventually Sasuke just _had_ to correct all the lies. Before he knew it, he and Naruto were sitting alone after Itachi had sneakily left, and he was _still_ talking about the pictures.

You could say, that everything had gone according to Itachi’s plan. 

“Haha! What’s this teme?”

Sasuke glared at the annoying photo. He’d almost managed to forget about it. He had somehow ended up leaning on Naruto’s shoulder, one leg over the blond’s thigh to get a better support for the album.

“I lost a bet, so I had to dress up like that for Halloween.”

“Your family likes to bet a lot huh? You’re gonna like my godmother. But seriously, what kind of bet makes the loser dress up like Snow White for Halloween? I mean, how old were you anyway?”

“Fourteen,” Sasuke gritted out. It wasn’t a good year.  

“Ha! That’s just too funny! Jeez your family really _is_ evil!”

“I told you.”

“You look really-“

“Don’t say it.”

Naruto leaned back a little to grin at Sasuke. When the raven suddenly yawned widely he chuckled, glancing down at the pouting fourteen-year-old version again who looked way too good in a dress.

“Reaaaaally adorable,” he teased and pinched Sasuke’s cheek with his free hand, the other arm was still secured around his shoulders.

“I hate you,” Sasuke muttered, but it obviously wasn’t serious.

Naruto snorted, the hand on Sasuke’s arm gripping it tighter for a second. When Sasuke looked up at him questioningly he didn’t even pause to think before leaning down to kiss him, just a lingering press of lips as their eyes met, Naruto letting go with a released breath, still staying close.

“If you’re tired, maybe we should go home. You’re driving anyway.”

“I didn’t get so much sleep last night,” Sasuke agreed, but neither of them made any indications to move.

Sasuke’s left hand was resting on top of the photo album, and glancing down again Naruto took it in his own, letting his thumb trace the thin gold of his ring.

“It’s still ugly as fuck,” Sasuke murmured, and with a small smile Naruto bumped their foreheads together.

“I guess…”

Unconsciously Sasuke raised his right hand to intertwine his fingers with the tan ones on his arm, feeling Naruto squeeze them in response.

The distinct ‘click’ of a camera shutter ruined the moment, and looking up they saw Itachi lowering his way too big and professional-looking camera and showing the picture to his grandmother.

“You really know how to capture a moment,” she said, watching Naruto out of the corner of her eye and winking.

Not really knowing what the hell was going on Naruto didn’t protest when Sasuke suddenly stood up, his face uncharacteristically red and his fingers clenched.

“Itachi, what the hell!”

“Language dear,” the older brother said in a perfect imitation of their grandmother’s voice, making the old woman chuckle.

“It’s starting to get late, we were just wondering if it was time for you to get back home,” she said.

Naruto nodded, standing up and scratching his neck awkwardly.

“I suppose so, Sasuke is kinda tired.”

Giving the bastard a lop-sided grin when he felt the glare he walked over to the grandmother, hugging back when she gave him a hug.

“It’s so nice to meet you Naruto, you really should have visited more often.”

“Yeah, sorry, I’ll get better I promise!”

He gave her his full thousand mega-watt grin and made her chuckle a second time.

“Come on Naruto, your mother wanted to say something before you left.”

Nodding at Itachi he followed, leaving Sasuke with his grandmother.

When their footsteps had faded into the distance she smiled at her grandson, he was still standing defensively, staring after Itachi and Naruto.

“Sasuke,” she said quietly, comfortingly, the way she always did when finding him when he was hiding after Itachi had been too mean to him and trying to convince him to come out of hiding.

Looking at her instead, he swallowed the lump in his throat and walked over to hug her tight.

“Oh my sweet little Sasuke, I’m so happy you’ve found someone like Naruto. You really should come visit more often though, he’s keeping you all to himself isn’t he?”

Sasuke eased his hold on her, sighing and meeting her too intelligent eyes.

“I’m sorry,” he mumbled.

“Oh it’s fine, I was just messing with you a little. But you look a little pale, are you eating enough?”

“Yes Grandma.”

“I hope Naruto takes good care of you.”

“You don’t have to worry, we’re fine.”

She smiled up at him, looking at him as if engraving his features into memory.

“I can’t believe Fugaku’s little baby boy is already getting married, it feels like it was yesterday they came home with you in a pink bundle.”

Sasuke looked faintly disturbed.

“You don’t have to remind me it was pink every time Grandma.”

“Oh really?” she said with fake innocence. “Let’s go to the others, if your mother’s going to hug you for as long as usual we should probably get there now so it doesn’t take all night.”

Sasuke followed her through the corridor, vaguely impressed with himself that he could keep acting so normally when his insides were subject to some kind of hailstorm out at sea. He felt shaky and feverish, and he clenched his left hand, feeling the ring pressing into the neighboring fingers.

_What was he doing?_

_Why?_

_Was he really…_

_Was he really doing the right thing?_

_For what reason?_

_…Naruto?_


	10. Because II

**Part 35: Don’t remind me**

 

Waking up to an empty bed, Sasuke sighed and hugged Uni-chiha closer. Naruto had convinced his mother to dig up the unicorn from some hidden box, and also insisted that it ‘slept’ with them in their bed.

Sometimes Naruto was so childish there just wasn’t any point in protesting.

It was Saturday, somehow almost a week had passed in a blur since family dinner. Between finals and wedding preparations there hadn’t been much time to think, and whatever time there was Sasuke made sure to occupy himself.

He didn’t want to think, didn’t want to feel anything besides the diffuse comfort Naruto’s presence brought, didn’t want to be reminded of the truth.

Because at some point the truth had started hurting…

Curling up underneath the covers he raised Uni-chiha up to eye level, letting out a quiet snort when he saw the cut off pink fringe. He’d wanted to make him manlier… An obviously failed mission.

“You’re the only one who understands me aren’t you?” he mumbled, then groaned to himself and rolled over onto his stomach and hit his pillow.

“One night without Naruto and I’m reduced to this, how pathetic am I?” he whined, feeling the lack of sleep heavy on his eyelids.

Not that he had to get up today or anything, but lying awake in bed wasn’t doing any good to his plan of not thinking. He’d spent the whole night trying to push away annoying memories; he didn’t need to do the same the whole day too.   

Naruto had left (been kidnapped) the previous afternoon after his last lesson, not even having time to go home in-between, which meant Sasuke hadn’t seen or heard from him in twenty-four hours. Apparently his bachelor’s party was some kind of camping trip.

Sasuke hoped no one would bother throwing _him_ a party.

The worst part of this was that Friday morning had been spent in a meeting with their priest, which pretty much was a catastrophe. They were getting married in church, yes, the same one his parents and grandparents had used, as well as on the exact same date. And naturally the priest, a middle-aged woman, had wanted to talk about love and marriage and stuff and why they loved each other and _Oh God_ it was terrible!

He’d sat there, feeling like a complete jerk, unable to even say a single word. But Naruto had been quiet too, and everything had been extremely stiff and awkward, until Naruto told the priest ‘I’m sure you’re a very nice person but we’re just not comfortable talking about that stuff with someone we don’t know’. Luckily she hadn’t taken it badly, she just nodded and then talked on her own, telling them a few stories and things they might need to know.

All it did was make him second-guess himself so much it gave him a headache. If he passed that last test Friday afternoon he’d be very surprised.

But there were second chances for tests.

As for life decisions… not so much.

And all his denial was starting to catch up to him.

He-

Losing his trail of thought he stared in the direction of the front door with horror.

No. He was _not_ going somewhere today. Not even to buy painkillers which he actually needed for his head. Or maybe that was due to his lack of coffee this morning. Lunch. Whatever.

He was starting to sound like Naruto wasn’t he?

Wincing when the doorbell rang again he decided that he might as well get it over with, whoever was out there would feel the power of his don’t-fucking-bother-me-in-the-morning-glare, and Naruto could testify that it was powerful indeed.

Although lately the dobe might have become immune to it.

Shaking his head to rid it of thoughts of Naruto for the millionth time that week he slouched his way over to the door. He probably looked like shit. Good. Maybe then whoever was on the other side of the door would get the hell out of here.

Opening it he was almost so surprised he actually showed it, but quickly gathered his bearings.

“Is Naruto there?”

“And who are you?”

Sasuke knew who it was, he wasn’t stupid. He just didn’t want the guy to feel welcome.

“It’s Gaara, Naruto’s friend, is he here or not?”

“Naruto’s _ex,_ ” Sasuke emphasized. “But no, he’s not here. Obviously since we haven’t heard his yelling about who’s at the door yet.”

Gaara narrowed his thin eyebrows, looking at Sasuke as if not quite believing him.

“He’s at his stag party, now get lost,” Sasuke explained and attempted to shut the door, but Gaara intercepted it. “Didn’t you hear me? He’s _not here_ ” he continued with a glare.

“But why aren’t _you_ at the party? Or are you so much of a girl they’ll throw you a _hen’s_ party instead? You know Naruto doesn’t like girly guys.”

“You know I don’t give a fuck about you, so get lost!”

“Why, did I hit a nerve?”

“You don’t know anything about me, _or_ my relationship with Naruto. And no, you didn’t hit a nerve, far from it actually.”

They scowled at each other with thinned lips, and Sasuke just couldn’t get what the hell that annoying guy wanted.

“I know enough to know that you’re not as happy as you pretend.”

Sasuke’s eyes widened without his consent.

“What do you mean? How the hell would you even know something like that, are you a stalker or something?”

“It’s called Facebook and the fact that my brother is friends with some of his friends.”

“Well whatever you _think_ you know is none of your business, if you want to see Naruto come back some other time, now Fuck. Off.” 

Sasuke tried to close the door, but Gaara somehow wedged his body in-between and forced it open once again, stepping into the hallway.

“What do you think you’re doing?!”

“I don’t want Naruto to marry some guy that won’t make him happy.”

“And you think you’re a better choice?”

Obviously he did, judging by the way he looked at Sasuke.

“I think you two haven’t even had sex yet.”

A tense silence hung in the air, and Sasuke was speechless for a moment.

“Wha- There is _no_ way you would even know that! And we have sex all the time!”

He crossed his arms and glared, but he couldn’t help the uneasy feeling in his stomach.

“You say that, but how come my brother has never seen any evidence of it? Or heard any realistic stories?”

“What the, is he a stalker too? I don’t think I’ve ever _met_ your brother, how would _he_ know?”

“His name is Kankuro.”

“Doesn’t ring a bell.”

“Naruto likes to brag about sex. I’m sure you know that from before you got together. And I talk to him now and then, it’s not like I don’t know him anymore.”

“Well I asked him not to!”

“Sounds like excuses to me.”

Sasuke was starting to get exasperated. What was he doing, getting talked down to like that by some crazy stalker ex? It was just that, everything he said hit the bull’s eye so painfully.

“Do you even know what his favorite position is?”

“What makes you think it’s the same as when you two were together? You’re just here to be an asshole and try to ruin our relationship, because _he didn’t want you_. And now he’s _mine,_ and there’s nothing you can fucking do about it.”

Gaara took a threatening step closer, his face twisted into an angry expression, his mouth opening to retort.

“Oh hey, Sasuke! We thought you’d be… oh, Gaara, what are _you_ doing here?”

Both men turned in surprise towards Ino’s voice, finding Sakura and Hinata there as well.

Looks like his party committee had arrived.   

“I was just looking for Naruto, but he’s not here, so I’ll see you some other time,” Gaara replied, all calm and collected again as he nodded at them and left with a last glance at Sasuke that clearly spelled ‘not a girl my ass’.

The girls looked after him confusedly, then turned back to Sasuke.

“Well Sasuke, don’t just stand there! Take a shower and then we’ll go for brunch, I’m starving!”

“You’re always starving Ino-pig!”

“Shut up!”

Ino walked inside, waving her hand in front of Sasuke’s blank face.

“Earth to Sasuke, shower?”

Clenching his jaw, Sasuke turned without a word and walked towards the bathroom. Maybe he could just drown himself.

 

**Part 36: Because II**

 

Sasuke walked into the bathroom.

He closed the door behind him.

He pulled off his clothes.

He got into the shower, closing that door as well behind him.

But when the first spray of water hit him it might as well have been a block of concrete, pushing him down onto the floor in a boneless heap.

He gripped his hair, gritting his teeth and pressing his face into his arm, unable to run away from his emotions this time.

He didn’t care about what Gaara had said.

He was right but for all the wrong reasons.

Breathing forcefully slowly to try and calm his racing heart he felt his muscles gradually relaxing when the water turned warm, but every drop was like a memory haunting him.

And finally, his body had had enough.

Shaking with sobs he almost laughed irrationally because of letting it all out, finally, admitting to himself what an idiot he was.

And it _was_ laughable. Blaming Naruto when obviously _he_ was the one desperate not to mess things up at this point. If he wasn’t good enough for Naruto… But he was never going to go through something like this again, not for anybody else. These six months felt more significant than his whole life before, and he didn’t want to end things the way Gaara wanted them to.

He could remember the first time he met Naruto, and now, in hindsight, it would be ridiculous to deny that he’d instantly liked him.

Or maybe like was the wrong word, but he’d certainly cancelled all other meetings with possible flat-mates without a second thought. Somehow he just knew that they’d be fine together. Naruto had lacked something that every other person had had; namely that glint in his eyes of ‘Now how do I get into his pants?”. Even the straight guys had managed to make him feel uncomfortable.

But getting married was another thing. And maybe he’d never expected to marry happily, but that didn’t mean that, presented with the possibility, he wouldn’t grab it.

That was it wasn’t it?

_I want to marry Naruto._

The thought fluttered inside his brain, as if unsure of whether it was actually allowed into the conscious realm. But that really was it.

And he would have admitted it sooner, if it wasn’t for that one little detail ruining everything.

Sex.

How was he supposed to-

Assaulted by a wave of memories from certain dreams, he felt like punching himself.

Sighing heavily he raised his head and leaned it back against the cold tiles, holding his spread hands up underneath the water and glumly watching the sprays hitting them.

Fine. Whatever. When Naruto got back, they’d have some long overdue sex and then he’d…

A sudden painful twist in his stomach made him clench his hands.

What if Naruto…

He swallowed thickly, his vision almost spinning when he’d held his breath a little too long.

But Naruto liked him, right?

All those touches, kisses, looks...

All those _feelings_ …  

They felt so good.

Having Naruto’s attention, it felt so good.       

He didn’t want it to stop, didn’t want to imagine Naruto doing the same to someone else.

He didn’t want Naruto to leave him.

Because he…

_Because he loved Naruto._


	11. Confession time

**Part 37: All along**

 

Hinata was feeling a little out of place. When Ino had gotten enough of Sasuke’s slow pace in the bathroom she’d pretty much manhandled him out of it, and Hinata was against any form of violence. But Sasuke hadn’t objected.

In fact, he seemed too lost in thought to care what was going on around him. He’d been quiet all through brunch, just picking at his food and nodding now and then to pretend he was listening to Ino’s and Sakura’ chatter.

They’d gone to a spa after that, getting nice massages and treatments, and Sasuke hadn’t objected to that either. And Hinata couldn’t help but worry that something had happened between him and Gaara, it wasn’t the usual disinterested silence he emitted. But it wasn’t upset either, and she didn’t quite know what to make of it.

They were currently soaking in a hot bubble bath, and even Ino and Sakura were quiet and just enjoying themselves. Even if this whole spa-idea had been Itachi’s Hinata had a feeling that the other two girls were much more interested in making themselves comfortable rather than Sasuke.

She observed the pale man opposite of her; he seemed relaxed but Naruto had told her about that small angling of his eyebrows that showed whether it was fake or not. And sure enough there it was.

“Sasuke?” she asked quietly, managing to get his attention.

He opened his eyes, looking at her as if he’d forgotten completely she was there, but Hinata was used to that kind of look so it didn’t bother her.

“Did something happen earlier with Gaara?”

Ino and Sakura stirred to life as well, looking between the two with confused curiosity.

Sasuke stared blankly at her for a few moments, but then he sighed and sank a little further down into the water.

“Did Naruto really love him?” he mumbled, embarrassed over his question. “I mean, he seems like such an ass to me.”

Hinata couldn’t help smiling a little. So even Sasuke was capable of doubt huh?

“I don’t think you have to worry Sasuke. They were very close in high school, but Naruto broke up with him for a reason and they’re not getting back together.”

“That’s not what I asked,” Sasuke objected, turning his head and glaring at something in the distance, but his shoulders relaxed a little.

“Hey, about that, Hinata, why did they break up anyway? I was so sure Naruto was going to go with Gaara to uni and then they’d get married and have cute little babies and stuff.”

Sasuke glared at Ino, but caught himself when he felt Hinata’s knowing eyes on himself.

“Well according to Gaara, Naruto didn’t want to commit,” Sasuke answered, the distaste obvious in his voice when saying the name of the red-head.

“It’s true,” Hinata said. “Gaara could be a little over-protective; Naruto told me he sometimes felt like he wasn’t allowed to have his own life.”  

Sasuke snorted, but otherwise no one commented, everyone seeming to sink into their own thoughts again. For a few minutes everything was silent except for the bubbling water, but then Hinata couldn’t hold it in anymore. There was a question that had been bothering her for a long time, but she didn’t want to stick her nose into things that weren’t really her concern.

“Sasuke?” she asked again, and he looked at her again. “You _do_ love Naruto, don’t you?”

Sasuke stared at her again, but nowhere near blankly this time. Emotions flickered across his face; he swallowed and looked down before fixating her with his dark eyes.

“Yeah,” he said quietly. “Umm, why do you ask?”

“Well…” Hinata said, hesitating, not sure if she could really tell him what she thought. “I just, can’t help but feel sometimes that he likes you so much more than you like him.”

Their eyes locked Hinata could see as clear as day that her suspicions were true, there was guilt in Sasuke’s expression, but also hesitation. He bent his legs up and put his chin on his knees, arms around the legs as he broke eye contact to stare down at the swirls of water instead.

“Are you sure that he likes me?” he whispered, and for the first time in her life Hinata felt like punching another person.

“Are you friggin’ kidding me?!” Ino yelled, her arms splashing water all over Sakura as she raised them out of the tub. “He’s crazy about you, he’s been crazy about you since the first time you met! It’s not rocket science why no boyfriend after Gaara lasted more than two weeks! Jeez how stupid can you be!”

“No no no Sasuke, you can’t do this,” Sakura wailed, palms pressed against her cheeks and eyes wide. “Don’t tell me you’ve been thinking he doesn’t love you all along?! I mean, he said yes when you asked him to marry you!”

All three girls gave Sasuke dead-pan looks, and he cringed inwardly. It’s not like he could tell them it was all a mistake and escape with his limbs intact. But at the same time he couldn’t stop the smile forming slowly on his lips at the thought of Naruto loving him all along.

He liked the sound of that.

Yeah, he liked it quite a lot.

xxx

Naruto stood by the lake, looking out over the water as the sun slowly set in burning colors of yellow and orange.

It was beautiful, but he didn’t notice.                                           

All he could think of was what Sasuke was doing now, if he was suffering terribly during his ‘bachelor’s party’, if maybe he missed Naruto just a little. If maybe, when he finally got back home again after trying to act like he enjoyed himself, Sasuke wouldn’t mind it if he hugged him close for an hour or two.

Staying here out in the woods wasn’t doing any good for his peace of mind. The whole week he’d been going back and forth in his mind, weighing pros and cons, heart versus brain.

Would Sasuke ever reciprocate his feelings, or would he forever be ‘fairly okay’ with everything?

Naruto didn’t like thinking about things like these. He just wanted to go home. Angrily picking up a small stone and throwing it into the water he missed Itachi sneaking up on him.

“So this is where you’re hiding.”

Naruto jerked violently when the Uchiha’s voice broke the silence.

“Shit, don’t scare me like that!”

“It’s not a party if the reason for celebration isn’t there you know.”

“I just don’t get why Sasuke and I couldn’t have a party together.”

“Oh you know, distance makes the heart grow fonder and all that.”

“You’re a terrible person, Itachi.”

Itachi gave a small smile, looking down at the ground and kicking a cone. They both watched it bumpily roll down the small hill they stood at the top of, almost reaching the water.

“I… might have a confession to make,” Itachi suddenly said, holding Naruto’s surprised eyes. “I hoped I wouldn’t need to, but seeing you now I think it might be necessary.”

“Just spill it Itachi, I’m not in the mood.”

“Clearly. Well, for once I’m at a loss when it comes to how to say something, but I suppose the sentence ‘everyone knew all along’ will get the point across.

Naruto stared at him, not getting it.

“What I’m trying to say, is that our families have known for quite some time how exactly your engagement came to be. And yes, it was my idea to play along and make sure Sasuke didn’t break it off.”

Naruto felt his brain buzzing like an old tired computer, the words registering in his mind but the significance of them reaching his body faster than his brain.

So he punched Itachi.

“I probably deserved that,” the other man said, rubbing his sore chin with a grimace.

Naruto punched him again.

 Itachi was smart enough to put some distance between them after that.

“I know you’re angry, but on the other hand this was the only way Sasuke would ever get around to realizing his feelings for you.”

“Feelings? What goddamn _feelings_?! Do you have _any idea_ of how Sasuke and I have been feeling these past months?! No, you don’t! You don’t know anything you fucking asshole!”

“Naruto calm down, Sasuke loves you and you love him right? And now he’s all yours, really you should be thanking me instead.”

“No,” Naruto gritted out, fists clenched and eyes boring holes in Itachi’s face. “You can’t think that just because he’s spent some time together with me he’ll miraculously fall in love with me. ‘Cause that’s the most stupid thing I’ve ever heard!”

“Not _fall_ in love, _realize_ he’s in love.”

“You,” Naruto continued angrily, finger pointed at Itachi as he walked threateningly closer. “Even if that’s true, how could you do that to Sasuke! You can’t control his life! All the things he’s done just to make you happy with him, and in the end you were the one hurting him all along! What the fuck is wrong with you!”

Itachi sighed, but he didn’t look regretful at all.

“Why don’t you calm down for a while and think this over? I’ll be over by the camp.”

And with that he turned around and left the fuming blond behind.

xxx

It took Naruto two hours to calm down, and another one to come to some sort of decision. By then it was almost too dark to see in the forest as he made his way back to the others.

Reaching them he strode over to Kiba, grabbed his arm and pretty much dragged him with him towards the path that led back to the road where they’d parked the cars.

“You’re driving me home,” he told the brunet, and something about his appearance had everyone stunned into silence.

He didn’t care.

He just had to get home.

 

**Part 38: So this is what happened!**

 

When the elevator made its ‘ping’, announcing the fact that he was now on his requested floor, Naruto felt as if the doors sliding open were a portal into a different dimension.

Or rather, two different ones.

Slowly walking towards the door that had been his for going on three years now, his head was spinning with all the possible scenarios. But there was only two ways this could end right?

Yes or no.

Reaching the door he raised one hand, his fingertips lightly touching the hard wood, sliding downwards, and then he put his forehead against it, closing his eyes and swallowing hard.

He felt sick.

He knew what he wanted, knew what he was hoping for, but he didn’t dare to believe that it could actually end that way.

That the dimension he’d entered was the one in which his life would continue with Sasuke in it.

Shakily he reached his hand into his pocket, fishing out his keys and putting the right one into the lock.

He couldn’t go any further than that. He felt frozen in time, like if he stayed in that position he’d never have to open the door and get hurt. He was in limbo.  

And he was scared.

xxx

Holding his breath, Sasuke listened intently for any continuous sounds from the door. He’d been unable to sleep, even though he knew that Naruto probably wouldn’t get there until morning, he couldn’t relax knowing that he was only a few hours away from his embarrassing confession.

He glanced at the alarm clock when the door remained silent. Almost 3 pm. Would Naruto really come back at this hour or was it just his imagination, wanting him back so desperately?

Fretting over what to do, he finally heard the sound he’d been waiting for.

A key turning in a lock.

xxx

Entering the dark apartment Naruto felt as if he was moving in a dream, unconsciously doing the same thing he did every time he got back. Taking off his shoes, glancing down to see if there was any mail, checking for Sasuke’s shoes to see if he was home.

Obviously he was.

But he was probably sleeping, and Naruto wasn’t so sure of whether waking him up to talk was a good idea or not. The fact that Sasuke was asleep was the only thing that had convinced Naruto to open the door; he could sneak into the bedroom, lie down beside the raven and hold him tight until morning came.

Hopefully then he’d be able to face reality.

He ran a tired hand through his hair and rubbed his cheeks, walking quietly towards the closed bedroom door. Putting his hand on the handle and pushing it open, he stopped after only a few centimeters.

The light was on.

xxx

Sasuke sat up in bed, his hands holding the sheets tightly, waiting with nerves prickling and mouth dry. Why wasn’t he coming inside?!

When he couldn’t take it anymore he slid out of bed, stomped over to the door and pulled it open. On the other side stood Naruto, hand halfway following the door handle, eyes wide in surprise.

“I didn’t think you’d come back in the middle of the night,” Sasuke said, still holding the door handle nervously and trying to keep his voice level, his eyes flicking between Naruto and the floor.

“I… I didn’t think you’d be awake,” Naruto answered, his voice unusually thick and hesitant.

For a while they both stood rooted to the ground, feeling awkward and nervous and glancing at each other. Then Sasuke took the few steps forwards that closed the distance between them, raising his hands to loosely grip Naruto’s shirt, resting his forehead against the side of Naruto’s head and exhaling slowly. He felt Naruto’s warm hands travel up his underarms to curl around his biceps, his head turning a little so that their cheeks touched.

Feeling Naruto close again, he realized how much he’d missed it.

How much he wanted to be even closer.

“There’s something I have to tell you,” he whispered in the blond’s ear, his stomach doing nervous back-flips and tension thickening in the air.

“Yeah, me too,” Naruto breathed out.

Sasuke opened his mouth, bracing himself in front of his admittance, but Naruto was faster.

“Your family knows,” his blond fiancé blurted out, and it took Sasuke several seconds to redirect his focus and process the words.

Frowning he leaned back a little, searching blue eyes that tried to avoid his own.

“What do you mean they know?”

Naruto clenched his jaw, his grip on Sasuke’s arms tightening as he swallowed and tried to get the words out.

“Itachi… he told me and, I know you never wanted to do this, and all along your family was just pulling your strings and fuck I’m really sorry and…” Naruto’s voice caught, his eyes shut as if in pain and Sasuke felt himself hurt in response.

“So they… but why?” he heard himself ask dumbfounded.

“They, well… Itachi said the he…”

“That he what?”

Naruto seemed to be fighting down tears, and Sasuke cursed his brother to all levels of hell for making _his_ moron look like that.

“That he… wanted you to realize you’re in love with me.”

The last words were said so quietly that Sasuke almost didn’t catch them, but when he did, he simply didn’t know what to say. Why would that make Naruto so sad? Didn’t he…

When he’d been quiet for a little too long Naruto opened his eyes to look at him, his face dejected and his lips trembling.

“You don’t have to tell me how stupid that was,” he mumbled with a short hollow laugh. “I’ll just…”

He let go of Sasuke, taking a deep breath and turning around, and Sasuke forgot all about confusion and annoyance with his brother. This was the one chance he had to not screw things up. The point of no return.

“Uzumaki Naruto,” he said, voice level and face set, nails digging into his palms. “If you love me, then you’ll turn around and kiss me right. Fucking. _Now_.”

Holding his breath as Naruto froze, he felt as if his head was spinning with nervous nausea, his heart thumped hard in his chest and he prayed, for the first time in his life he prayed sincerely that this was not going to turn into the worst day of his life.

And then the air was forced out of his lungs as Naruto embraced him, a hand firmly holding his neck as lips found his, the kiss surprisingly gentle compared to the fierce start. Naruto’s mouth lightly pressed against his, hesitating as if waiting for Sasuke to pull back, to form the words that would ruin this moment.

But he never did.

Instead, he snuck his arms around Naruto’s waist, inhaled a shaky breath and moved his lips against Naruto’s, sucking lightly on the bottom one before pulling back just enough to let them breathe.

“I love you.”

Finally, the words he should have said ages ago found their way past his lips, and Naruto swallowed before saying them again.

“I love you.”

 Capturing Naruto’s lips again in another sweet kiss Sasuke smiled, smiled like he’d never smiled before, so much that he couldn’t maintain the kiss and instead buried his nose in Naruto’s neck.  

“Really?” he whispered, his fingers gripping Naruto’s shirt, he could feel the rapid beating of Naruto’s heart matching his own.

“Yes you asshole bastard teme! I love you more than anything, damn it!”

Naruto’s voice was thick with emotion and a half-sob could be heard in the middle, and Sasuke thought it was the most beautiful voice he’d ever heard. When he felt something wet reach his temple that was pressed to Naruto’s jaw line it suddenly struck him.

This was real.

Naruto loved him.

And he should probably get that confession done now.

He raised his head to look at Naruto. His eyes were filled with tears and his face spelled tender love, and the secret romantic in Sasuke knew exactly what to do. Falling down on one knee, he took Naruto’s left hand in his, drinking in the sight of the one person he thought was the most annoying he’d ever met, but also the most amazing.

“Naruto,” he started, the corners of his lips twitching upwards at the shocked look on Naruto’s face. Giving the hand he held a little squeeze he repeated the words he’d said what felt like so long ago, words that held so much more meaning now.

“I’ve loved you for so long, please do me the honor of marrying me.”

Fresh tears rolling down his cheeks, Naruto opened his mouth to answer when a glint of recognition flickered through his eyes.

“You forgot ‘my darling’,” he said, grinning at Sasuke’s grimace.

“I don’t even know why I said something like that,” he mumbled, a faint blush covering his cheekbones.

“I still want to hear it,” Naruto replied in a sing-song voice, but with an affectionate happy smile.

Sasuke started again but paused, thinking it over for a few seconds. Then he smirked. Naruto had been complaining that he was lousy at romance, hadn’t he? Well he’d make him take it back.    

“Naruto, I know I haven’t been the best of friends or fiancés, and I’m very sorry for that. I’m an  antisocial bastard, but somehow when you’re with me I forget about my hatred for socializing, I forget that I’d rather scoff than smile, I forget that I don’t like sharing or touching or having fun. You make me a better person and I love you for that. And you may be a loud, irritating dobe but I can’t bring myself to dislike you, to mind when you invade my personal space or make me late for something.”

“I love when you wake me up in the morning, when you call me a grumpy old man and still make me coffee, still smile at me, still walk with me to school talking to me as if you care even when I pretend not to do the same.”

“I love when you annoy me to the point where I can only smile, when you frustrate me to the point where I can only laugh, and hold me to the point where I can only hold you too.”

“I love you for putting up with me when I’m an ass, when all I do is blame you for my problems, when I complain and bitch and make fun of you in front of your friends.”

“I don’t deserve you, but if you love me then I will treasure your love forever, I will love you back with all my heart even though it is the only thing I have to offer, but if that’ enough for you… will you make me the happiest man alive and marry me?”   

Naruto had stood frozen during the whole speech, but now his knees couldn’t hold him up any longer and he sat down, one hand squeezing Sasuke’s desperately and the other in front of his mouth, his eyes wide and brimming with emotion.

“Sasuke, it’s three in the morning, I spent the whole drive here thinking we were going to break up and then you, then you… Fuck you can’t _do_ this to me, no one is going to believe me when I tell them about it!”

“I’ll do it again if I have to. In public,” Sasuke said with determination, his eyes softening again when Naruto shook his head helplessly.

He reached his free hand out to dry the tears from the tan cheeks, smiling in return to Naruto’s.

“I love you,” he whispered, embracing the blond when he threw his arms around his neck and sobbed.

Naruto tightened his hold, rubbing his nose against Sasuke’s neck.

“I love you too Sasuke, I love you so much,” he choked out in-between sobs.

“So… is that a yes or a no?”

Naruto laughed, pulling back to look at the man he loved with sparkling eyes.

“Of course it’s a yes, you bastard!”


	12. No more holding back

**Part 39: No more holding back**

 

Naruto groaned and rubbed his eyes, waking up and blinking blearily at the sun shining in through the open window. Why Sasuke always insisted on keeping the window open the second spring started he didn’t know, but-

Eyes suddenly widening he sat up, yesterday’s memories flooding back. Or perhaps earlier this morning was a better description.

He looked down at the still sleeping raven, finding it hard to believe that all of it hadn’t just been a crazily vivid dream. Unable to contain the large grin spreading across his face he shook Sasuke awake, not stopping even when he got a punch to his arm.

“God dammit idiot, why are you waking me up?” Sasuke whined, rolling over onto his stomach and burying his face in the pillow.

“Aww but you said you love me even when I wake you up.”

Sasuke stilled for a second, and then he raised himself up on his forearms, looking much more awake but still frowning.

“Doesn’t mean I can’t complain about it.”

Naruto lay down on his side, tracing Sasuke’s face with his fingers and still grinning widely. He intertwined the fingers in dark tresses instead, lightly pulling Sasuke closer and giving him a chaste kiss.

“Ah, hey, by the way,” he said, grin fading and blush appearing in its stead, “Sorry I was so emotional and crying before, but you know, everything just boiled over.”

Sasuke smirked, and Naruto tugged at his hair with a pout.

“You don’t have to look so smug about it.”

“What, me smug about you having your vulnerable moments? Never.”

Snorting in disbelief, Naruto let go of Sasuke’s hair and instead tipped his body to land half on top of his fiancé, the hand sneaking down to intertwine with pale fingers instead. He pressed his lips to Sasuke’s temple, then held Sasuke’s chin and turned it towards himself so he could kiss his lips as well.

“You’ve got morning breath,” Sasuke commented with a grimace, rolling his eyes when Naruto stuck his tongue out at him.

“Ah, but Sasuke!” Naruto exclaimed, as if he’d suddenly remembered something really important. “This means I can totally touch your ass doesn’t it!”

Sasuke stared into the wide blue eyes, not sure where that came from.

“Umm…”

“Covers off, I’m totally touching it!”

“What the-!”

Sasuke rolled onto his side, reaching a hand out to intercept the one trying to feel him up after having thrown off the covers.

“Hey, who said you could just grope me whenever?”

“But, but, _Sasu,_ ” Naruto whined with puppy eyes.

Sasuke stared back defiantly, trying not to come off as embarrassed as he was.

Then Naruto grinned mischievously, and Sasuke feared for his questionable virginity. And sure enough Naruto grabbed his arms and pinned him down onto the mattress, straddling him and exuding rather perverted vibes. Licking his lips he took both of Sasuke’s wrists in one hand and trailed the other downwards, making sure to flick a nipple on the way. When it slipped underneath his pajama t-shirt briefly to ghost over his abs he felt himself involuntarily shiver, broadening the perverted grin on the blond’s face. A squeeze to his crotch had him freeze for a second, biting the inside of his cheek to prevent any surprised noises to escape.

“Umm, seriously Naruto, at least let me brush my teeth, and I kinda need to…” he swallowed when the hand started massaging him quite suggestively. “…use the toilet and-“

“Excuses,” Naruto said, looking very much aroused now and undressing Sasuke with his eyes.

“Well I don’t have any condoms anyway so…”

Naruto stopped to give him a shocked look.

“What? What kind of guy our age doesn’t have condoms? And it’s not as if we need one anyways.”

Sasuke started making protesting noises, but the hand was doing all sorts of interesting things to him again.

“Really, how seldom do you get laid Sasuke?”

“It’s none of your business,” Sasuke grumbled, but found himself void of all thoughts when Naruto suddenly hovered over him, a strong leg replacing the hand that had relocated to brush along his ribs and tweak a nipple.

“Oh but Sasuke, it _is_ my business now,” Naruto breathed against his lips, his eyes clouded with lust.

Sasuke swallowed again, glancing to the side. He didn’t know why he was suddenly so hesitant to do this, yesterday it had seemed like a much better idea.

Or rather, he knew but just didn’t want to admit that he was nervous.

“At least brush your teeth first,” he mumbled, glaring at the blond.

Naruto rolled his eyes but leaned back, letting go of his wrists.

“You know, I really need a shower anyway, I feel all dirty after being in the woods for two days…”

Sasuke narrowed his eyes in suspicion at the fake musing.

“Wanna shower together?”

Naruto’s innocent look didn’t fool Sasuke, and he hurriedly said no.

“Great! Let’s go!” the apparently deaf moron happily said, jumping out of bed and dragging Sasuke with him.

After Sasuke had relieved himself and finally let Naruto inside, the bathroom door closed behind them with a rather ominous sound, and Sasuke watched Naruto pull off his shirt with mixed feelings. Sure, he loved Naruto and they were most likely going to have a lot of sex from now on, but he wasn’t so sure if he was ready for something like showering together. It was one thing to undress each other in passion, quite another to do it calmly in the bathroom, and he was certain Naruto was going to give him all kinds of pervy looks and gropes.

And Sasuke just wasn’t sure of the whole ‘being dominated’ thing yet.

Naruto looked at him expectantly, a perverted grin on his face, tapping his fingers against his crossed arms.

“So, you know I’d love to undress you myself but…” he said, grin widening when Sasuke glared at him and reluctantly took off his t-shirt.

Naruto’s look turned challenging as he started unbuttoning his jeans, as if daring Sasuke to chicken out and leave. Sasuke didn’t have any thoughts of leaving though; his eyes were involuntarily glued to the fingers pulling down the zipper, revealing hideous orange boxers. Naruto had slept in his clothes from yesterday, too tired to change, and Sasuke realized that while Naruto was wearing boxers, he himself wasn’t.

Slowly the jeans fell down to the floor, and Naruto stepped out of them. Sasuke tried not to look, but he had lots of trouble keeping his eyes from roaming over Naruto’s body. Not that Naruto seemed to mind.

Sensing Sasuke’s hesitation though Naruto walked over to him, taking his hands and putting his palms flat against his own chest, guiding them downwards and stopping when the edge of Sasuke’s hands nudged the lining of his boxers.

“I don’t want to push you but…” Naruto said, glancing down before steadying his eyes as they met Sasuke’s. “We’ll just shower, okay?”

Angry with himself for acting so shy Sasuke curled his fingers over the edge of the boxers, the look on his face determined as he pulled them down over Naruto’s hips. He shoved them down almost roughly, raising an eyebrow at Naruto’s slight surprise. Then Naruto smiled and stepped out of the orange fabric, coming closer, Sasuke could feel the heat of his body against his chest every time one of them took a breath.

Swallowing against the dryness in his throat he chanced a look down, between their bodies, Naruto’s head leaning towards his and a hand caressing his side, creating goose bumps. Lips pressing briefly to the corner of his mouth Naruto took the last step that brought their bodies flush against each other, his arms encircling Sasuke’s waist to rest on the smooth skin on his back.

“You’re not making this easy for me,” Sasuke breathed out, his eyes closed as he tried to figure out if the feeling of that hardening appendage against his thigh was arousing, embarrassing, or simply the natural next step to take.

“How so?” Naruto replied, his voice equally quiet but faintly teasing as well, his fingers tracing up and down the raven’s spine.

Sasuke opened his eyes again, catching half-lidded blue eyes and narrowing his own slightly.

“You’re letting me think,” he said and got out of the blond’s grip, resolutely taking off his pajama pants and stomping over to the shower, opening the door and getting inside.

Naruto stared after him for a few seconds, he could feel his eyes on him as he fumbled to adjust the temperature of the water he’d just turned on, the familiar sound of it falling doing nothing to calm his nerves.

Yes, he was nervous, but at the same time he was aching for Naruto’s touch, and all this slow care was starting to grate on his nerves.

“Are you joining me or not?” he snapped at Naruto without turning around, probably sounding more annoyed than he was.

“What the hell bastard, don’t just strip all unsexy and leave me hanging like that!”

“Idiot, you’re the one who was too slow.”

Naruto was quiet, his eyes boring into the side of Sasuke’s head, managing to unnerve the pale man who was gritting his teeth even further.

“What?” Sasuke bit out, his voice too hoarse in the thick atmosphere.

“Turn around and look at me, Sasuke.”

Staring unseeingly at the tiled wall for a few seconds, one hand gripping the tap and the other clenched to a fist, he took a deep breath and forced himself to turn around. Glaring at Naruto, he saw his eyes change from a confused frown to surprise.

“Sasuke are you _nervous_?” he asked, arms falling slowly to his sides from their previous crossed position, and Sasuke’s glare intensified.

“Moron! What part of this _wouldn’t_ make me nervous?” Sasuke gritted out, his eyes shifting between the blond and any other convenient meaningless spot in their bathroom.

Naruto chuckled, a grin spreading across his face and his eyes lighting up.

“I’m sorry, I was just worried you were having second thoughts or thought I was coming on too fast or something.”

Sasuke stared at the floor as Naruto walked over to him, stepping into the shower as well and closing the door behind him. Biting the inside of his cheek Sasuke reached out to take Naruto’s hands in his, intertwining their fingers and taking a deep breath, relaxing a little as he exhaled.

“I’m not, and you’re not,” he mumbled. “I love you,” he added quietly, feeling something in his chest constrict from uttering those words.

Naruto squeezed his hands, then let go of them and instead traced his cheeks gently, holding his face and smoothing out an eyebrow with his thumb. He bumped their foreheads together, and Sasuke felt rather than saw the smile on his lips as the warm water sprayed over them, running down their bodies and pooling slightly around the drain. Hesitantly, he raised his hands and put them on Naruto’s hips, running his fingers lightly over the wet skin just to get a feel for him.

Definitely different from a girl’s, but that wasn’t a problem anymore. It was Naruto, so it was automatically sexy. Tracing his hip bones, the defined but not overly impressive abs, his smooth back all the way up to his shoulder blades, feeling Naruto’s breathing speed up against his mouth. Disappointingly Naruto stepped back, looking a little embarrassed, reaching for the shampoo and pouring some in his hand.

“Unless you’re interested in shower sex, I suggest we concentrate on the showering part for now.”

Glancing down briefly at the rather obvious erection Naruto sported, Sasuke almost felt like smirking. But he forgot all about it when he suddenly felt Naruto’s hands in his hair, massaging the shampoo into it. Staring at the concentrated frown on the blond’s face accompanied by the tugging at the corner of his lips, he wasn’t really sure how to react to this.

“Oh don’t look so prissy Sasuke, this is nice! It’s couple stuff! Don’t tell me you’ve never done something like this with any of your exes.”

 _Hmm_ Sasuke mused. Maybe this wasn’t the best time to admit he’d never had a girlfriend. One night stands had been quite enough for him so far thank you very much. So no, he’d never done anything like this before.

He settled for just watching Naruto as he took great care not to miss a spot, but when Naruto rinsed his hands and instead reached for the soap he narrowed his eyes in suspicion. Naruto gave him a fake innocent look and promptly smeared soap on his face, rendering him unable to see unless he wanted to burn his eyes. So he pursed his lips and tried not to think of anything as those warm hands ran all over his chest and arms.

When those hands went lower though, and he heard Naruto kneel down to glide his fingers over his hips and thighs, his brain failed him and started imagining all sorts of things Naruto could do in that position.

“My my Sasuke, you’re starting to get a little excited,” Naruto teased, and Sasuke bent his knee and shoved it into the moron’s chest.

“Shut up,” he muttered, his face heating up a little when the blond snickered at him.

Naruto had shut off the water before starting with the shampoo, but Sasuke had yet to feel cold from the lack of heated water. It might have something to do with the knowledge that Naruto was definitely staring at his crotch and enjoying it. He felt Naruto standing up again, leaning into him to whisper in his ear.

“Let’s not forget the back.”

Swallowing an embarrassing noise Sasuke couldn’t help but shiver a little when those hands returned to glide up and down his back, Naruto’s arms embracing him without their bodies really touching, teasing him, his nose brushing against his cheek. Getting all this attention, it sure felt good, but also very embarrassing since he wasn’t used to it.

“You’re trying to turn me into a girl aren’t you,” he mumbled quietly, getting a snort in response.

“No way, I don’t like girls so what would be the point of that? Maybe if you could get pregnant or something.”

Sasuke smacked the blond’s arm, trying to glare through his closed eyelids. Naruto chuckled and pecked his lips, grimacing when he tasted the soap. But since he already had soap in his mouth, he might as well use it to his advantage, so he started pressing kisses along Sasuke’s jaw and down his throat, hands moving downwards in response. For some reason he skipped the raven’s ass though, and instead lightly dragged his nails down the back of his thighs.

Naruto licked his lips and facepalmed inwardly. _Soap idiot!_ he thought, and turned on the tap momentarily to get it off his tongue, scowling when Sasuke chuckled. But he didn’t say anything, he had a plan and he was going to enjoy seeing the look on Sasuke’s face when he caught on. Kneeling again he got some more soap in his hands, starting to massage the pale thighs and noticing in satisfaction the groan that his fiancé tried to suppress. He went the whole way down to his heels and then up again, this time not stopping and finally cupping that tight ass. Squeezing it he grinned at the choked protesting sound that slipped out between Sasuke’s lips, and decided he’d waited long enough.

To hell with ‘we’ll just shower’.

Giving the cheeks another squeeze he opened his mouth and without any warning deep throated the raven as far as his gag reflex would let him.

The surprised gasp and violent jerk of hips was appreciated indeed, as well as the fingers roughly twisting in his hair.

“Fuck Naruto! You said…”

Sasuke’s voice faltered when Naruto retracted his head slowly, pressing his tongue to the vein on the underside of the hard length in his mouth. Fighting hard not to grin and fail to continue what he started, Naruto sucked hard on the swollen tip, letting it slip out of his mouth before going down on it again. Sasuke was supporting himself with a hand against the wall, the other doing painful things to Naruto’s scalp, but the blond didn’t care. He was busy swallowing and bobbing his head up and down the pulsing organ, high on the fact that he could make Sasuke lose control like this.

He massaged the cheeks in his hands, sneaking a few fingers between them to brush over Sasuke’s hole, rubbing it lightly and shuddering with arousal. Judging by the groaning and tensing Sasuke was doing he figured the raven was already getting close, he was circling his tongue sloppily around the head, dipping it into the slit, his own hard-on begging for attention. Sasuke was half-bent over him so he couldn’t see his face, just the heaving of his chest and the tense muscles in his stomach.

But fuck if that wasn’t sexy as hell.

Maybe he’d actually come just from giving head, it would be the first time in that case. But if anyone could make him it was surely Sasuke. Letting the now leaking cock slide deep down his throat again he moved one hand to massage Sasuke’s balls, choking a little when Sasuke jerked his hips forwards unexpectedly to reach even deeper.

“F-fuuuuck I’m gonna…” Sasuke half-gasped half-groaned, and Naruto waited until he could feel the hardness his lips were wrapped around twitch.

When it did, he released it with a loud smacking sound and squeezed the base, groaning at the sight of Sasuke’s eyes fluttering open, his mouth formed in a silent scream as his release was denied. Hurriedly clenching his eyes shut again Sasuke grimaced, nails digging into Naruto’s head, teeth gritting.

“Fuck you fucking fuckhead!” he shouted when he found his voice again. “My eyes! Shit! What is _wrong_ with you!”

Naruto’s surprise soon turned into glee and he couldn’t help laughing, letting go of Sasuke’s straining cock and standing up again, embracing Sasuke who was angrily rubbing at his eyes. He pressed a hard kiss to the thinned lips and laughed again, unable to wipe the purely happy smile from his face.

“ _That_ , my dear Sasuke, was for all the times you left me hanging. I wasn’t really counting on the soap though…”

“Moron,” Sasuke grumbled, aiming a blind kick in Naruto’s direction and missing completely.

Still chuckling Naruto turned on the water again, helping Sasuke rinse off but in reality just being in the way, and once Sasuke was able to see again he gave the blond quite the hateful look. But Naruto just smiled innocently and then proceeded to shove the raven against the wall, grinning lecherously and pushing their groins together.

“What do you say we finish this off quickly and go have some fun in bed instead,” he mumbled against Sasuke’s lips, not waiting for an answer before he captured said lips with his own, hands running up and down Sasuke’s sides.

Sasuke only groaned in response, his arms moving automatically to wrap around Naruto’s neck, tightening the hold when Naruto started grinding against him. Cutting him off like that earlier had been so mean, but their slick skin moving in sync made him forget all about it. The tiles were cold against his back but he hardly noticed, all he felt was Naruto’s tongue sliding against his own and the white-hot coiling in his lower abdomen telling him he was close again.

Naruto’s arms snuck around his body, pulling him closer, holding him possessively, teeth nibbling on his lower lip as he let out a shaky breath and threw his head back into the wall as he came. Shivering in Naruto’s arms, pleasure rolling in lazy waves through his body, he was vaguely aware of the heavy breaths against his neck and the way Naruto had stiffened against him.

After cooling down a little Naruto pressed burning kisses along his neck, licking off the water droplets that dribbled down from the wet strands of hair plastered to his skin. He didn’t know if the feverish heat in his body was due to the steam filling up the shower, or the passion in Naruto’s eyes when he brushed his lips over Sasuke’s, creating a tingle in them.

All he knew was that he wanted Naruto to do him, and the strong response his body made to that thought made him groan out loud.

“What have you done to me…” he whined, dragging a hand over his face and pushing some stray bangs from his forehead.

“Hah, you like it,” Naruto said with a lopsided grin, his voice huskier than usual.

Then the blond stepped back, turning around to grab some soap and started lathering himself up, as if nothing had happened, ignoring the put out look on Sasuke’s face. On the other hand, it gave Sasuke a good chance to do some eye-raping. He trailed his eyes all over that muscled back, wondering when the hell Naruto had time to train that much.

Oh yeah, he went swimming with Kiba. That explains it.

He continued over his butt, deciding he liked that too, and then down his strong thighs and to his feet. Even if Sasuke was a bit taller, Naruto was one size ahead of him when it came to shoes. He knew that because Naruto had wanted to borrow his converse once and complained that they were too small.

“Should I turn around?”

Naruto’s question brought him out of his straying train of thought. Seemingly not expecting an answer Naruto turned, rinsing the soap off and grinning at Sasuke’s appreciative look.

“You have no idea how awesome and impossible it feels that you’re really looking at me like that,” he said, becoming a little more serious for a moment, and Sasuke held his eyes.

“I’m sorry about that.”

Naruto shook his head, looking like a wet dog since he was still right underneath the shower head.

“It’s fine,” he said, an affectionate smile on his lips. Then his eyes flicked downwards, and up again with a smirk. “Maybe you should wash off too,” he said with an impish grin.

Sasuke looked down, cheeks tainted pick by the remains of semen on his stomach, and pushed Naruto out of his way to get underneath the water.

“Is there even a point in showering,” he muttered, letting out a ‘hn’ when Naruto’s arms encircled his waist from behind.

“Not really, I just wanted to see you wet and naked,” Naruto mumbled in his ear, dodging when Sasuke tried to smack him. “Come on, let’s get out of here,” he added, pecking Sasuke’s cheek and letting go of him.

They dried up and brushed their teeth at Sasuke’s insistence, but as soon as they were done Naruto grabbed his arm and dragged him towards the bedroom. Pushing Sasuke onto the bed he climbed onto it after him, hovering above him with a rather perverted grin. It didn’t help that they were already naked.

Or well, for Naruto’s plans it certainly helped.

Running a hand through Sasuke’s still wet hair his grin turned into a smile, causing the raven to flutter his eyelashes quite cutely and look to the side.

“You’re not exactly helping your case here Sasuke, looking so adorable.”

“No,” Sasuke said, smacking his hand over Naruto’s mouth. “Call me that and no sex for you.”

“You think you can make me stop at this point? How _a-do-ra-ble,_ ” Naruto answered, swooping down to claim a kiss, securing Sasuke’s flailing hands above his head.

Naruto didn’t have to wait long for Sasuke to give in and kiss him back, and for a while they just kissed sweetly, Sasuke lightly holding on to Naruto’s arms after he’d let go of his wrists. After a while Naruto moved to kiss and lick Sasuke’s neck, tilting his head back for better access. Licking the patch of skin right underneath his ear he was rewarded with a low moan, and changing to sucking he was determined to leave a nice hickey right there.

Sasuke squirmed a little underneath him, and suddenly he was struck with the full six months of celibacy and _almosts_ , and he hungrily crashed their mouths together again. He sank down to connect their bodies, grinding down into Sasuke and gripping his hair tight, the other hand caressing every patch of skin it could reach.

Sasuke seemed just as eager, his legs wrapping around Naruto’s back and fingers digging into his shoulders. All the pent up sexual frustration, all the restraints he’d put on himself, everything came crashing down on him now that he finally had Sasuke where he wanted him; clutching him tight underneath him in bed.

And the moaning. Oh god the moaning! Where had Sasuke learnt to sound like that? Naruto felt as if his whole body was on fire, every nerve aching to send the impulse of _touch_ , of _Sasuke_. They were kissing so hard he wouldn’t be surprised if they got bruises, tongues doing that sensual dance that had existed for so long and still brought the participants to new heights, if it was with the right person.

And no doubt Sasuke was the right person.

No doubt that Sasuke was the right fucking _everything_ to him, and he didn’t think he’d ever be able to come down from the shock/happiness that Sasuke felt the same.

That to Sasuke, _he_ was the right one. And no one else.

Naruto and Sasuke.

He tasted the words on his tongue, the last one slipping out in a heavy breath against Sasuke’s abused lips.

“Sasuke, I love you,” he whispered, silencing any response by kissing him again, and again, and again.

He slid his hands down Sasuke’s body, brushing over his hips, one hand tracing up the thigh pressing against his own side, the other holding his weight up against the mattress.

He wanted so badly to pound into that tight hot passage, but-

Swearing loudly he paused, cursing his own stupidity.

“What?” Sasuke asked, his voice breathless and raspy, and Naruto wanted to hear more of it.

“I forgot the lube,” he groaned. Squeezing his eyes shut for a second he released a sigh, sitting up in defeat. “I’ll go get it, don’t move,” he added with a squeeze to Sasuke’s thigh and a serious look on his face.

Forcing himself to not get right back to molesting Sasuke when he took in his aroused state he got off the bed, giving himself a mental pat on the back for a good job so far. He just wasn’t sure how to tackle the issue with the whole ‘top/bottom’ thing… He doubted Sasuke would want to bottom the first time, for someone being straight for so long taking it up the ass might be a little too much for a first time, but on the other hand he himself didn’t like it that much either, it just made him feel so passive.

Unless maybe he was riding the other, but yeah… At the moment, Sasuke didn’t really seem like he was taking charge though…

Still debating in his mind he went back after picking up the bottle from his old bedroom, being greeted by a raised eyebrow as he entered the room again.

“What took you so long?” Sasuke asked, clearly annoyed.

Naruto swallowed at the sight of Sasuke sprawled out sexily on the bed in all his naked glory. There was a reason he’d been dreaming of this for years after all. Sitting down on the bed beside the scowling raven he kissed his nose as a form of apology.

“Sorry sweetheart,” he said.

“What did I tell you about calling me stuff like that!” Sasuke growled and smacked him right in the face before he had time to dodge.

“Damn it Sasuke, where’s the love?” he complained, rubbing his cheek with a pout.

“Hn. Just hurry up and fuck me. We have another of those family dinners tonight if you remember, and I think I’d like some time to recover in between.”

When Naruto had been quiet for more than five seconds Sasuke glanced up at him, having previously looked to the other side. The blond looked as if he’d frozen mid-breath, his eyes staring unseeingly as his brain tried to compute what he’d just heard.

“Umm, Naruto?”

Sasuke reached up and pinched the blond’s nose, effectively bringing him out of his stupor.

“What did you just say?” Naruto mumbled in disbelief.

Sasuke huffed.

“I _said_ we have a family dinner tonight, so-“

“No no no, before that! Before!” Naruto interrupted him with, waving his hand for emphasis.

“I said… hurry up and… you know.”

“No. No I don’t know at _all_.”

By now Naruto was starting to catch up to his brain, a grin tugging at his lips, widening as Sasuke scowled again.

“I said fuck me dobe, now get a move on or I swear I’ll-“

He didn’t get any further than that, the air suddenly sucked out of his lungs as Naruto kissed him hard.

Oh he was going to be sore later. He could bet his ass on that.      


	13. Addicted

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologize for the lack of proper lube in this chapter, as well as some other stuff. Yeah.

**Part 40: Addicted**

 

~Around 6 months earlier~

“Why good morning dear cousin, is there anything I can do for you at this lovely hour?”

Itachi’s voice was layered excessively with sarcasm, the only way that Sai would actually understand it, if even then.

“Well, I thought you might be interested to know that Sasuke got engaged yesterday.”

Itachi had to pause for a moment after hearing those words. Sure, their grandmother had given Sasuke a pair of rings just two days ago, hoping for an engagement, but no one really believed it was going to happen for a few years.

“To whom?” Itachi asked, sitting up in bed and moving a few strands of hair out of his face.

“Remember Naruto?”

“His flat-mate? Of course I remember. Wait- you mean he and _Naruto_?” Itachi frowned, thinking of the overly loud and cheerful blond that Sasuke hadn’t allowed him to meet more than a few times.

“That’s him. Naruto sure seemed happy last night, but Sasuke kept mumbling about a joke or something.”

“Hn. So, you think it’s safe to assume that somehow Naruto found the rings and pulled some sort of prank on Sasuke?”

“No, I think it’s safe to assume they’re engaged since Naruto said so.”

Itachi was quiet for a while, ignoring Sai’s comment and thinking things through. On the one hand, there was the possibility that they would just uncover the joke before he had time to put his just formulated thought of a plan in action, but on the other hand he’d seen the way Naruto looked at his brother.

And more importantly, the fact that sometimes his brother unconsciously looked back.

“Hmm, well, joke or not, I think this just might be the perfect way to finally get Sasuke laid,” he mused once he was done thinking. “I’ll call you back later, I’ve got some other people to wake up.”

Sai didn’t have time to reply before he hung up, instantly calling his grandmother instead.

“Hello grandma, sorry to call you this early, no there’s no emergency, but I do have interesting news…”

Convincing her had been a piece of cake, and even though his parents had been a tad more reluctant towards the whole idea they eventually gave in.

Itachi was the master of persuasion after all.

~Present time, Uchiha mansion, living room~

“What do you MEAN maybe they broke up!!!!?????”

Kushina’s voice rang through the room, causing everyone to wince. Jiraiya and Tsunade had just arrived, and Itachi had told them about Naruto’s reaction the previous night.

His family wasn’t very impressed.

“Itachi dear, I know you just want the best for them, but you weren’t supposed to say anything until _after_ the wedding,” his grandmother pointed out, Fugaku and Mikoto nodding in agreement.

“Yeah brat, I expected to come here and find my cute little godchild all happy and sparkling!” Tsunade chimed in.

“Well he wasn’t very _sparkly_ last night,” Itachi said drily.

“I’m sure Itachi knew what was best,” Minato said in his always calm voice.

Itachi quite liked Naruto’s dad.

“You still haven’t answered my question!” Kushina said, her hair almost visibly bristling with annoyance.

“If Sasuke hasn’t come to terms with his own feelings yet, then maybe they will break up, but we can fix it.”

“As determined as you sound my son, both of them are quite stubborn, especially Sasuke. It might not be as easy as we think.”

“Says the one who forced them to sleep together,” Kushina snapped. “I can’t believe you used my son for something like this, where’s the happy ending you promised me?!”

“Calm down honey, they’ll be fine, Naruto won’t give up that easily,” Minato said, gently putting a hand on her shoulder and making her sit down. “And also, if things had ended up badly, don’t you think we would have known already?”

“Unless they hate us now and ran off without telling us,” Mikoto mumbled in a sad voice.

“Haha! I say we stop the worrying and go fetch them if they’re stupid enough to deny their feelings! Even if Naruto would be better off with a nice pair of boobs in my opinion, we could just get them drunk and have Naruto knock up Sasuke and problem solved.”

Tsunade smacked her fist over Jiraiya’s head, about to yell at him when they heard steps approaching, the butler peeking his head through the door.

“Sasuke and his fiancé have arrived and are currently parking the car,” he announced, not twitching a muscle when seven people stared at him for a second, and then hurriedly rushed through the door to greet them.

He was a professional after all.

As they milled out onto the stairs leading up to the front door, they could see Naruto and Sasuke approaching in the distance, intertwined hands swinging between them. Itachi squinted to see them better, finally making out their facial expressions. Naruto was looking quite happy, striding confidently down the pebbled path and saying something to Sasuke. His little brother didn’t reply, looking grumpy as alw-

“Oh my,” his mother exclaimed. “Looks like things turned out well after all.”

Itachi nodded in agreement, he’d been so sure of the facial expression Sasuke would wear that it had taken his brain a few moments to realize that he was actually _smiling_. And not just a small one either. He looked genuinely happy and content with the world, and something told Itachi that there must have been some form of tension relief after Naruto got back.

“See, I told you there was no point in worrying!” Jiraiya gloated, again earning another smack from Tsunade.

Although that might just be a habit she had.

As they came closer he could vaguely make out their voices, Naruto saying something with the kind of grin that made Itachi think it was something perverted, immediately erasing the calm face of his brother and replacing it with a scowl.

“Dobe, no seducing in public,” Sasuke hissed, narrowing his eyes even further when Naruto gave him an innocent look.

“What? But damn, Sasuke, does this feel good or what?”

“That’s the fifth time you’ve asked that.”

“Well you never answer.”

“I answered the first time moron. And by fifth time I mean since we left home.”

Naruto merely grinned, nodding his head in recognition at everyone standing to greet them.

Sasuke eyed them warily, knowing now that they’d all been in on it since the beginning he wasn’t particularly looking forward to all the smug comments he was about to hear. And there was also the issue of Naruto’s godparents, who knows what kind of craziness they’d come up with. Naruto let go of his hand and gave his ass a quick squeeze before running forwards to greet his family. He glared at Itachi’s amused and knowing look, trying to remember the plan he had to manage yelling at his brother and make him apologize before things got out of hand and he ended up as the butt of the joke.

_Butt…_

Oh curse his brain to all depths of hell! He didn’t need any more reminders that he had a sore ass thank you very much. Certain vivid memories tried to surface in his mind but he suppressed them sternly, feeling the eyes of his parents on him.

They really didn’t need to know.

“Hey sweetie, I’m so happy to see that you and Naruto are fine,” his mother said, giving him a hug.

“Hn, no thanks to Itachi though,” Sasuke grumbled with a frosty glare at the innocent-looking man.

Before anyone had time to give any additional comments, he promptly dodged out of his mother’s arms and tried to sneak into the house. He would have succeeded if it weren’t for his lovely fiancé grabbing his arm, grinning brightly and suddenly introducing him to the godparents.

“So yeah this is Sasuke,” Naruto said, raising the arm he still gripped and forced Sasuke to wave listlessly with it.

The suspicious looks Tsunade and Jiraiya were giving him unnerved him, but it was even worse when Jiraiya suddenly leaned closer, putting his hand up to his chin in a thoughtful fashion and walked around him as if inspecting him.

“Hmm hmm,” the white-haired rather imposing man said to himself, eyeing Sasuke as if he was for sale.

Then he poked Sasuke’s chest, where his left boob would have been if he’d been a girl.

“Well, the lack of breasts is a bit disturbing but-“

“It’s not funny anymore!” Tsunade shouted and slammed her clenched fist onto his head, making him wince and look at her with a hurt expression.

“But Tsunade-“

“Let’s just go inside,” Minato said with an apologetic chuckle, everyone ignoring the violence currently being displayed in front of them and following his lead.

When Sasuke sent Naruto a raised eyebrow he merely shrugged with another grin.  

xxx

_While Naruto kissed him he felt a hand sneak down his body, following the curve of his ass before slipping in between his cheeks. He bent his leg upwards to make it easier for it to reach, unable to help the moan slipping past his kiss-swollen lips as Naruto grinded down on him again._

_“I want you so much, Sasuke,” Naruto growled huskily, and Sasuke felt a tingle of anticipation run down his spine._

_He tilted his head back as that amazing mouth licked patterns on his neck, the now slicked-up finger deciding at last to stop teasing him by making slow circles around that certain place, and instead sliding inside._

“More tomatoes, little brother?”

Itachi’s voice broke him out of his reveries, almost making him jump. He’d spaced out in the middle of dinner, losing control over his mind in a weak moment.

Or maybe it had something to do with the way Naruto had looked at him a minute ago, pretty much promising a special kind of dessert once they got back home again.

“Yeah, thanks,” he answered, clearing his throat and accepting the bowl, putting it down beside him and trying to ignore his brother’s amused look.

Trying to make his family apologize was about as easy as making Naruto go without ramen for a month, but his frustration had simmered down a bit once he found out that Naruto had punched Itachi not just once, but twice.

He probably deserved some kind of award for managing that.

Glancing over at Naruto he saw the blond engaged in a heated discussion with his mother over… over what would be cuter, Sasuke in a dress or Sasuke in a cat costume?! What the hell?! Sending a furious glare at his annoying fiancé he got a cheeky look back, and then the idiot put a finger to his mouth _and sucked off_ a piece of invisible sauce.

Oh god.

_Having a finger probing him felt strange at first, but then Naruto went lower on his body to flick his tongue over his nipples, then down his stomach, all the time slowly thrusting the finger in and out. Once he’d almost reached Sasuke’s dick another finger was added, making him squirm and try to adjust to the feeling of being stretched. Suddenly Naruto pulled them out again to move his hand so it was in-between his legs instead, pushing his thighs to the sides in a lewd way. Sasuke was just about to protest to being treated like in some kind of porno when that mouth closed over his hard member again, the combination of wet warmth and perfect amount of suction almost letting him forget all about fingers._

_He’d always been weak against blowjobs._

_But when those fingers suddenly found a certain spot…_

“Sasuke dear, would you pass me the tomatoes?”

This time he actually did jump, clenching his teeth as he realized that he’d _again_ allowed his thoughts to wander into dangerous territory. Trying to act inconspicuous he handed the bowl of tomatoes over to his grandmother, smiling back at her and pointedly ignoring the blond trying to catch his attention.

_The sound level of his gasp had been beyond embarrassing. He’d snapped his hips up in automatic response, causing Naruto to choke a bit, but as he stared wide-eyed down at him he simply got a wink in response, and another curl of fingers. This time the jab had been harder, more deliberate, and Sasuke had fallen down on the mattress with tensing legs and a small shiver making its way through his body. As Naruto’s fingers kept assaulting him he bit his hand to try and muffle all the noises he made, his hips helplessly moving to meet that pressure making him feel so good. Naruto let go of his length with a perverted sucking sound, licking his lips and pinning Sasuke down with a hungry look in his eyes._

_“Yeah that’s it Sasuke, move your hips, just like that.”_  

“Oi, Sasuke!”

Sasuke’s head turned so fast he almost heard his neck protesting, a violent blush causing his cheeks to heat up much the same way they’d done after that dirty comment Naruto had made. Clenching his fork in his hand he scowled at his family watching him with amusement, especially that infuriating moron he was unlucky enough to love.

“You okay? You’re kinda red in the face,” Naruto teased him, a grin on his face.

“I’m fine,” he hissed, angrily stabbing a piece of food with previously mentioned fork and shoving it into his mouth.

_When Naruto had finger-fucked him with three fingers for a while Sasuke wasn’t sure anymore where pleasure ended and pain started, but he felt high on it all the same. He’d given up on trying to keep quiet, especially since that hot tongue had gone back to trace patterns on his skin. Feeling those fingers slide out and not return, the tongue also retracting, he let out a groan in protest, eyes closed and body humming. When he felt Naruto shift his weight on the bed, suddenly pushing his legs up, his eyes fluttered open again. Naruto was positioned between his thighs, dazed arousal written all over his face, sweat beginning to glisten on his forehead and chest. He held his breath when their eyes  met, swallowing thickly as Naruto inched closer to him, something much bigger than fingers brushing over the skin on one cheek, coming to a rest as it nudged his –_

Sasuke stood up suddenly, his thighs bumping into the table but he didn’t care, he just hurriedly turned and walked away.

“Whoa Sasuke where are you going?” Naruto called after him.

“Bathroom,” he gritted out.

Thanks to that stupid blond he now had a certain _problem_ growing between his legs, and he had a feeling he wouldn’t be able to keep a straight face in front of his family. Once inside the closest bathroom he locked the door and sank down to sit with his back against it, letting out a sigh of relief. Running a hand through his hair he realized that he was still gripping his fork tightly.

Wow, he must be more affected than he thought. Well, no reason to try and suppress his memories any longer, it was probably better to just let it all out…

 _Naruto paused, silently asking him for permission. Sasuke felt his heart beat too fast against his ribs, his mind not really functioning anymore, but he nodded and tried to relax his body. And suddenly Naruto was_ inside _him, and he couldn’t breathe, couldn’t produce sound, he just clung desperately to the blond as he murmured soothing words against his chest, gently stroking his dick simultaneously. Adjusting took a few minutes, but when Naruto finally started moving, hitting his prostate, oh god it was better than he could have ever imagined._

_The term ‘lost in pleasure’ hadn’t really made sense to him before. But Naruto moving above him, connecting them, holding him, talking to him like that… he never wanted to lose this feeling. Naruto’s hands gliding over his skin, his mouth on his neck, how could handing himself over feel this good? Naruto was pleasuring him, and he forgot all about pride. There was only passion burning through his veins, his body focused on building up an orgasm, his hands gripping Naruto’s shoulders, his hair, his back, his arms when he put them on each side of Sasuke’s head and forced him to almost bend in half._

_Meeting Naruto’s thrusts, arching his back to feel more skin contact, he did it all without a second thought, he_ needed _it. And oh, sweet sweet release, shaking him, exploding in his brain, his mouth forming Naruto’s name over and over again._

_Just one fix and he was already irreversibly addicted._

“Sasuke? Are you okay?” Naruto’s voice said through the door.

Sasuke was unable to answer at first, his thoughts still in the middle of remembering all that pleasure. Glancing down at the bulge in his pants he concluded that no, he was probably not okay at the moment.

“Hey, I’m sorry if you got mad, we were just messing with you.”

Sasuke frowned, then turned and opened the door, easing to the side as Naruto stepped in and gave him a surprised look at finding him on the floor.

“Sasuke?”

“I’m not mad,” he answered, not really sure what Naruto referred to but figuring they’d probably been making fun of him as usual. “I’m just…”

Naruto looked at him curiously, noticing his faintly flushed state, eyes widening in realization.

“Oh my Sasuke, were you having dirty thoughts at the table?” he asked with a spreading grin, the look in his eyes instantly turning perverted.

“Just get down here and kiss me,” Sasuke pouted, feeling very much in need of some physical contact at the moment. “And lock the door.”

Naruto chuckled and did as told, putting an arm around Sasuke’s neck and his other hand over his knee, their lips meeting in a slow kiss. Sasuke closed his eyes, his hand reaching up to cup Naruto’s cheek. Just feeling Naruto’s warmth close to him like this caused a happy fuzz in his stomach, and when Naruto changed position to come closer he let out a small content sound. Feeling the hand on his knee slowly slide down along the inside of his thigh made his next sound come out a lot more needy though.

“As horny as you’re making me Sasuke, I’m not so sure that fucking in your parents’ bathroom in the middle of dinner is really a good idea,” Naruto mumbled in-between kisses.

“Mm I don’t care, just get me off. It’s your fault anyway.”

Naruto sucked in a breath, seeing Sasuke all aroused and hard for him, it’s not like he had it in him to say no anymore. Kissing him deeper this time he started fiddling with the button on Sasuke’s jeans, pulling the zipper down and pushing his hand underneath the waistband of the boxers, stroking him.

“Fuck yeah,” Sasuke groaned, pushing his pants down further to make it easier.

Naruto kept kissing and pumping him, his strokes firm but slow, teasing the already aching length.

“Shouldn’t we, ngh, hurry up?” Sasuke mumbled after a few minutes, the hand on Naruto’s cheek moving downwards to wrap around his neck instead, pulling him even closer.

The blond now had one leg over Sasuke’s, sort of straddling him, and he pushed him into the door behind him. Naruto was tracing his lips with his tongue, sucking and nibbling lightly, his thumb rubbing the tip of Sasuke’s dick, swallowing his moans greedily. He trailed kisses along the underside of Sasuke’s jaw, reaching his ear and breathing hotly into it.

“I thought you said you didn’t care?” he mumbled, amusement and arousal in his voice.

Sasuke gasped when the hand pleasuring him suddenly sped up, and his mouth connected hungrily with Naruto’s again. He was bucking his hips up and down, in his mind reliving those deep thrusts Naruto had made at the end, pounding into him relentlessly, and fuck he really needed to feel those again. Soon. Now.

“Nnnn-Naruto,” he moaned, forehead pressed to forehead, feeling the end drawing near.

But it wouldn’t be enough.

“What?” Naruto asked, breathless at the sight Sasuke of writhing in pleasure at his ministrations, his own hard-on straining in his pants.

Dark eyes held blue, breaths mixing, movements ceasing.

“I want you inside me Naruto, I want it hard, and I want it right now.”

“But-“ Naruto started, mouth open in shock and brain short-circuiting when the words registered.

“The only butt here is the one you’re going to fuck, now strip!”

Sasuke accompanied his heated words with a glare, and even though Naruto thought that the flushed and cute Sasuke was sexy, this demanding bastard side of him was what had made him fall in love in the first place. Hurriedly ridding himself of his shirt he forgot all about where they were, full focus on Sasuke and the fact that he was pulling off his own shirt as well, revealing all that pale drool-worthy skin.

“Turn around,” Naruto ordered, voice low, slamming Sasuke face first against the door.

This bathroom was inconveniently small, but he hardly noticed as he pushed his body against Sasuke’s, both of them on their knees. Sasuke’s palms were pressed flat against the wooden surface, his fingers curling when he felt Naruto’s hardness through the jeans he still wore rubbing up at him. Naruto ran his hands up and down Sasuke’s sides, then down his thighs, pushing the jeans that were already half-way off even further down to trap his knees. He kissed along a pale shoulder, hands sliding up to pinch perky nipples, groaning in response to Sasuke’s moan.

Unable to hold back he roughly opened up his own pants, shoving them down just enough to free his erection, shuddering lightly as he rubbed it in-between Sasuke’s ass cheeks. Pressing kisses all over Sasuke’s neck he presented two fingers for the raven to suck on, wasting no time to push them inside his hole as soon as they were moderately coated.

As he moved them in a scissoring motion Sasuke drove him crazy with all the moaning he did, his forehead pressed against the door and his hips grinding down to meet the fingers.

“Naruto, I’ll come,” Sasuke gasped, and the blond quickly wrapped a hand around his shaft to help him reach the edge, catching his release in his palm to use as lube.

He didn’t really let Sasuke calm down from his orgasm, just lubed himself up with the raven’s cum, leaning back to watch as he pushed inside. Sinking into that tight heat was just as amazing as it had been earlier that day, except this time he could move without pausing for adjustment. Running his fingers down Sasuke’s tense back he settled for gripping his hips, giving an experimental thrust that earned him a wanton moan. He made another one, slow, enjoying the view immensely, sinking in deep.

“Dobe,” Sasuke gritted out, knowing exactly what Naruto was doing, an embarrassed blush spreading over his face.

“What? It’s freaking hot,” he answered, grinning when Sasuke turned his head to the side to glare at him with an indignant face.

“Just move before they come looking for us.”

Naruto pouted but complied, leaning over Sasuke, one hand leaving his hip to instead intertwine with pale fingers against the door.   

“Ready?” he whispered in his ear, brushing his lips over it.

Sasuke felt tremors of anticipation shoot up his back, and bracing himself he nodded, tightening his hold of Naruto’s fingers.

Naruto started a fast rhythm, making short thrusts, sneaking his arm around Sasuke’s stomach to push him backwards against himself. He was panting loudly, pressing his cheek against Sasuke’s neck, soft dark hair tickling the side of his face. Skin rubbed against skin in lovely friction and he almost lost it when Sasuke suddenly released a lewd _mewl,_ caused by a particularly hard thrust against his sensitive prostate. He just had to speed up, to see if he could hear that sound again, to see what point he could drive Sasuke to, how much he could make him fall apart.

When they went back, he wanted everyone to know just how well he’d succeeded in making Sasuke his.

Feeling that tingle in his stomach, the rush of blood through his body, bliss creeping closer, he pulled out further every time, pushing back inside deeper, relishing in the feeling. Sasuke fell silent, his mouth open, eyes clenched shut as his breaths came in heavy gasps, his body trembling and toes curling, nails scraping down the door.

Oh Naruto wanted to come inside him so bad, but somehow a small rational part of his mind reminded him of where they were. With a few last hard thrusts he pulled out, feeling Sasuke jerk underneath him as he was hit by his own orgasm, and grinding a few times against him he came as well. Shuddering he pressed himself close to Sasuke, his nose buried in a pale sweaty neck, their bodies tensing and relaxing in waves as they reluctantly calmed down.

After a few minutes Naruto sighed, letting go of Sasuke and slumping down into a sitting position instead, dragging a hand through his sweaty now even more unruly hair. Sasuke sat down as well, his legs folded underneath him, but then he grimaced and straightened them out.

“My knees are sore,” he complained, rubbing them with a hand, pulling his jeans down further to inspect the damage.

“You’re not the only one,” Naruto said, stretching contentedly all the same.

“We’re pretty screwed, aren’t we?” Sasuke asked, frowning as he glanced at the cum-stains on the door beside him.

“You’re the screwed one,” Naruto pointed out. “I’m just in trouble.”

Sasuke smacked his leg, but then he smiled and eased over to where Naruto sat, letting his fingertips trace over his stomach and chest in a feather light caress that had goose bumps erupting in their wake.

“Don’t turn me on again,” Naruto mumbled, putting his index finger over Sasuke’s lower lip, eyes narrowing when Sasuke smirked at him.

But then Sasuke sighed, gingerly getting up from the floor, pressing a hand to his lower back when he felt the soreness beginning to form there. Seems like the painkillers had stopped working.

“Let’s just clean up and get back, they’ll be suspicious enough as it is,” he said, stretching out a hand to help Naruto up.

“I’ll just blame you,” was the answer he got, accompanied by a peck to the mouth.

“Hn.”

Once they’d cleaned up both themselves and the bathroom Naruto hugged Sasuke tight, breathing in his scent, feeling remnants of pleasure running underneath his skin.

“I really love you,” he mumbled, brushing his lips up and down Sasuke’s neck, feeling the raven tighten his arms around him.

“Yeah, me too.”

For a while they just stood there, enjoying each other’s warmth, trying to wrap their minds around the fact that they did love each other, and a few days from now they’d be married.

If someone had told Naruto after the first time he met Sasuke that they would end up madly in love and married, he would have called them an idiot and secretly hoped that they were right.

If someone had told Sasuke the same he would have thought they were out of their mind and back away slowly, hoping to escape before they did something crazy.

Leaning back so he could see Sasuke’s face Naruto smiled, raising a hand to brush back a few strands of black hair. Just as they were about to kiss again a knock on the door interrupted them, Itachi’s voice pointedly asking them if they were intending to skip dinner entirely, in which case they should just go home. After Sasuke had snapped back at him that they’d be back in a minute Naruto stole a quick kiss, then let go of him and opened the door to greet an amused Itachi.

“Don’t forget your fork,” the older Uchiha said as Sasuke strutted past him, causing his brother to freeze momentarily and turn back to retrieve it.

As they entered the dining room again a wide array of looks greeted them, some worried, some disapproving, some with waggling eyebrows. Trying their best to act natural and not suspicious at all they sat down again, Sasuke stabbing a now cold piece of food and chewing on it as if he was starving.

“Young people are so lively, aren’t they.”

Sasuke’s grandmother’s comment had him choking, Tsunade helpfully clapping his back, ending up probably hurting him more than helping though.

For once Sasuke wasn’t the only one with a face resembling a tomato, Naruto joining him after sharing a brief look.

“At least now we know who’s on top,” Itachi stated calmly, tomato-red getting replaced by pure horror.

Oh that blond was going to be the death of him, he just knew it.


	14. A not so accidental marriage

**Part 41: A not so accidental marriage**

 

As the cantor started playing the traditional wedding march on the organ everyone present inside the church stood up, turning towards the entrance. Through the impressive doors came Naruto and Sasuke, hand in hand, that happy expression on their faces that everybody wishes for on their wedding day. Naruto’s grin was threatening to split his face in half, and even though Sasuke’s smile was more restrained it was definitely wider than anyone would have thought possible.

As they walked they passed friends, acquaintances, family, random people who’d snuck inside without permission, and Naruto squeezed Sasuke’s hand reassuringly. His soon-to-be husband had suffered from irrational nervousness all of yesterday as well as this morning, whereas Naruto himself was so excited he could barely stand it.

Sasuke hadn’t really been able to stand it either, and things might have turned ugly if it weren’t for Fugaku locking them inside their apartment last night and telling them to ‘work the stress off’ until they passed out from exhaustion.

Needless to say they’d taken his advice to heart, and Sasuke’s blush at the moment was almost solely caused by the fact that his neck was littered with bite marks courtesy of a certain blond.

Reaching the front rows they each made faces at their closest family, mothers crying embarrassingly loud and Itachi making if-you-know-what-I-mean-faces.

The details were definitely on the blurry side for the two of them, and later when they re-watched the video they were surprised as to how long the ceremony was, seemingly much shorter in their minds.

One thing stood out though; about ten minutes into the whole thing with the priest talking about something or other there was a sudden loud “I object!” that caused all heads to turn and zone in on a certain red-head.

“Oi, at least wait until the priest asks for your opinion!” Jiraiya shouted, causing dead-pan expressions on most faces.

Gaara didn’t seem faced by it though, he’d climbed onto the church bench to make himself easily seen. He glared at a cringing sour-faced Sasuke while Naruto gaped in complete and utter bewilderment.

“What the hell are you talking about?!” Naruto then shouted, taking a step towards him but stopping when Sasuke took a hold of his arm.

The brunet had collected himself now, an almost smirk playing at the corners of his mouth as he gave Gaara an expectant look.

“Care to explain yourself?” he asked calmly.  

“You two aren’t marrying out of love, and Naruto deserves better than that.”

“A valid point,” Sasuke answered, once again silencing Naruto. “And what are you basing this assumption on?”

“Your engagement was just a prank Naruto pulled on you, and your family thought it to be real and forced you to get married for appearance!” Gaara delivered triumphantly, crossing his arms as if to further prove his point.

A united gasp ran through the audience, even the priest put a hand over her heart and confusedly tried to get any sort of confirmation or denial from their family, but they were all focused on Gaara and Sasuke.

“Well that’s true,” Sasuke said, causing a louder gasp this time around, “but not in the way you think it is.”

“Oh I think it’s pretty clear you’ve been using Naruto, knowing his affection for you.”

Sasuke met Gaara’s pale eyes for a moment, then turned his head to look at Naruto.

“It’s true that I’ve treated Naruto badly, but I’ve already apologized for that.” Naruto squeezed his hand briefly as he continued. “But my family happened to know something neither me nor Naruto knew until recently, namely, the fact that I love him and have done so for a long time.”

He gave Naruto a small smile, getting a larger one in return, while confused whispers could be heard throughout the old building. Sasuke raised his head again, looking out over the gathered people.

“We were planning on telling this story at the dinner later, but I guess we should clear up some things before continuing so I’ll give you a shortened version.” He paused for a second, seeing Itachi give him an approving nod. “Six months ago I got a pair of engagement rings from my grandmother, and as I was trying out a mock proposal Naruto walked in on me, and in short he put the rings on us and joked in front of his friends that we were getting married. My family thought it was a great idea when they heard about it from my cousin Sai, and decided that this was exactly what I needed to realize my hidden feelings towards Naruto and then we’d live happily ever after.”

He paused again, looking at Naruto and moving his hand to caress the blond’s cheek. When he continued talking his voice was thick with emotion, but Naruto’s bright forgiving smile made sure it didn’t waver.

“Since I’m an idiot, it took me until last week to come to term with my feelings, and I really don’t deserve Naruto’s patience. But I love him, and he loves me, and if he still wants me as his husband after all this then we’re getting married and nothing is going to stop us.”

“Teme, I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t want to marry you, you know that,” Naruto mumbled, putting his hand over the one Sasuke held his cheek with, losing himself into those dark orbs the same way he’d done so many times this past week already.

When a loud sniffle was heard Naruto twitched and turned towards his mother, hissing at her to stop embarrassing him and creating a faint ripple of laughter through the church. Then he glanced over to Gaara, the red-head standing shocked in place, his plan obviously not having worked out as he’d thought it would.

“I don’t know how you found out about it, Gaara,” Naruto said, twitching when Sai gave him a wave and a fake smile from beside Gaara. “Dammit Sai you’re such an ass! Only half a cake for you!”

People laughed while Sai merely shrugged, he wasn’t very fond of cake anyway.

“But anyway,” Naruto continued, “what I wanted to say is that, you don’t stand a chance against Sasuke’s sexy ass so stop embarrassing yourself and sit down again!”

Naruto finished his ‘lecture’ by crossing his arms and nodding to himself, ignoring all the looks directed at him for being so harsh. He couldn’t help smiling a bit at the indignant elbow Sasuke dug into his ribs though. Gaara didn’t move until Sai pulled him down by his sleeve, a blank look on his face as he lost himself to thoughts of just what he’d missed since he’d last talked to Sasuke. Something pretty significant most likely, and he cursed himself for not grabbing the chance while he had it.

Meanwhile the priest collected herself and continued with the ceremony, everyone cheering and/or crying after they’d exchanged rings and Naruto had lifted Sasuke up and spun him around before kissing him too deeply for a public setting.

After that everything went by in a hazy sort of happiness, the dinner afterwards enjoyed by everyone including Gaara, who spent the evening suspiciously in Sai’s company. And even though Naruto complained that no one had brought ramen after he _specifically_ asked for it, and all the speeches were inappropriate or embarrassing at best, and no one believed Naruto when he told them what Sasuke had said that night he came back from his camping trip it and Sakura failed yet again to get herself a boyfriend it didn’t matter, because everyone was happy without a care in the world.   

xxx

Naruto impatiently dragged Sasuke inside their hotel room, immediately pressing him against the door and capturing his lips. Leaning into him comfortably he moved his lips slowly, fingers sneaking underneath Sasuke’s suit jacket to brush over his stomach.

“Someone’s eager,” Sasuke teased, his arms embracing Naruto’s lower back and pulling him a little bit closer, their shared warmth enough to cause a happy stirring within him.

“Don’t pretend you haven’t been looking at me like you were starved for affection the past hour,” was the mumbled answer into his neck.

“Mm,” Sasuke agreed, then started walking them further into their suite after they’d gotten out of their shoes.

As he gently led Naruto backwards his eyes caught the champagne and strawberries conveniently placed in the middle of the room, and changing his plans he turned towards them instead, aiming for the wide soft-looking white couch.

“Umm, Sasuke? Why can I see the bedroom door from here?”

“’Cause the moment we go through that door all you’re going to think about is sex, and I’d like to indulge in your company a little longer.”

Naruto let out a shiver and a small purr, allowing Sasuke to push him down on the couch.

“I like it when you use words like that,” he smiled, making himself comfortable with Sasuke sitting down next to him, stealing one of his hands to kiss the palm lightly.

“Which word, sex?” Sasuke asked with a raised eyebrow, reclaiming his hand so he could open the bottle.

“Hmm that too, but I was thinking about indulge.”

When Sasuke had filled up the two glasses with the sparkling liquid he held one of them out for Naruto, making the blond sit up to take it.

“How about a toast to the newly-weds, Mister Uzumaki-Uchiha?”

“Well, when you put it like that, Mister Uchiha-Uzumaki…” Naruto answered with a small grin, their glasses making a clinking sound before both of them took a sip.

Putting his glass back on the coffee table Sasuke turned so that he could look at Naruto more easily, lifting a hand to trace his cheek tenderly.

“You’ve become so mushy lately it’s almost scary,” Naruto murmured, returning the affectionate look in Sasuke’s eyes.

“Does it bother you?”

Feeling Sasuke’s index finger tracing his lower lip Naruto smiled, content, happy, still finding it hard to believe his luck in snaring this perfect bastard and make him all his own.

“I feel like I’m too lucky.”

Sasuke let a small puff of air exit through his nose, not quite a snort but not really simple breathing either.

“Well with all the clumsy stupid things you do you were bound to get it right at least _once_ in your life through sheer luck.”

“Hey,” Naruto complained, smacking his arm. “What happened to being mushy?”

Instead of answering Sasuke chose a strawberry from the crystal bowl on the table, inspecting it before deeming it worthy and holding it in front of Naruto’s face.

“Say aah,” he said, smirking when he managed to inspire a rosy tint on Naruto’s cheeks.

Once the red berry had disappeared behind pouting lips he leaned against the back of the couch, resting his head in his palm, simply watching the blond chew.

“Aren’t you going to eat one?” Naruto asked in a cute put-out tone.

“Hmm, I was thinking I could just taste you once you’ve swallowed.”

Naruto paused mid-chew to stare at him for a second, then a look of amazed disbelief formed on his face.

“It’s definitely going to take a while to get used to this,” he chuckled.

“Hn. Don’t expect anything after the honeymoon, I’m fairly sure I’ll be able to cure myself from all this lovey-dovey-ness.”

A suddenly serious expression overtaking his face Naruto leaned close, putting his arm around Sasuke’s neck, the faint touch of lips creating tingles in them.

“I’d rather you didn’t,” he said quietly, Sasuke’s warm breath mingling with his own, “If you keep loving me this much my whole life I’ll be the happiest person in history you know.”

“Who said my amount of love has anything to do with being mushy?”

Sasuke’s tongue darted out, licking along Naruto’s lips and catching the sweet taste on them.

“Then how much do you love me?” Naruto asked, releasing the breath he’d sucked in at the erotic display.

“I think I’ve already told you that,” he murmured, his hands following Naruto’s arms until they reached his hands, lifting them over his head and pushing him down, hovering over him with a smile dancing in his eyes.

“Tell me again.”

Sasuke brushed his mouth over Naruto’s damp one, teasingly back and forth, amused when Naruto glared at him. Then he applied more pressure, closing his eyes when Naruto moaned quietly at the contact, liking the addition of strawberry and champagne to the already addicting taste that was his Naruto.

“Enough to kill my pride for you,” he mumbled, kissing the tip of his nose.

“Hmm not good enough,” Naruto said with an impish smile. “Since _I_ love you enough to give up ramen for you.”

“You’d never do that.”

Naruto tried to give him an innocent look, but the glint in his eyes was too obvious.

“Hn. Then how about I love you enough to put up with your obnoxious annoying personality?”

“Oh my Sasuke, are you actually implying you like me for more than my dastardly good looks?”

Sasuke rolled his eyes and would have smacked the other if his hands hadn’t been restrained at the moment.

“Now that you mention it, you don’t really have any redeeming qualities at all, I should just head back to the priest and-“

“Nooooo!” Naruto protested and clung to his neck when he started straightening up. “If you leave now we can’t have steamy hot wedding night sex!”

Sasuke tried to keep a blank unimpressed face, but the longer Naruto looked at him the more perverted that look became, and eventually Sasuke had to look away with heated cheeks.

“Heh, Sasuke, you’re way past the point of trying to act like a prude,” Naruto whispered huskily in his ear, his left hand sliding suggestively down his chest, unbuttoning his suit jacket in the process.

“I didn’t say we were done talking.”

Sasuke’s protest was rendered useless as a small groan accompanied it, caused by Naruto’s tongue licking the shell of his ear.

“The bulge in your pants says otherwise,” was the smug answer dripping with arousal.

“Let’s not ruin the couch,” Sasuke said and stood up, dragging Naruto up with him.

Naruto flashed him a grin and then drank the champagne remaining in his glass, putting it back on the table from where he took it and lifting up the bowl of berries to bring with him. Sasuke shook his head at the blond pulling him along by hand, he was humming a tune seemingly no longer in a hurry. Putting the bowl down on the bedside table Naruto plopped a strawberry into his mouth, making a surprised face when he noticed the conveniently placed bottle of lube next to it.

“Well that solves all our problems,” he snickered to himself, huffing at Sasuke’s eye roll from his place on the bed.

“Itachi probably put it there,” Sasuke shrugged, rubbing his neck gingerly.

He’d been pretty tense the past weeks, and honestly if it hadn’t been their wedding night he would have gone straight to sleep. When Naruto pushed him down on his back he wasn’t surprised at all, scooting further onto it so his legs weren’t hanging off the edge. Naruto crawled after him, a predatory look in his eyes, and Sasuke felt a small rush of anticipation as the atmosphere instantly turned more intense.

“Mm you look so hot in a suit, I just want to eat you,” Naruto murmured, hands starting to roam over the white shirt, pulling it out of Sasuke’s pants and unbuttoning it.

Sasuke leaned back on his elbows, watching Naruto licking his lips and then bite them as he pushed the shirt to the side, leaving the bowtie in its place. He couldn’t deny that Naruto turned him on; he wanted to try all sorts of dirty things together. Naruto seemed to like it a lot when he acted seductive though…

“You better hurry up and lick me then before I melt,” he enticed, tilting his head back after giving him a pointed look.

As if on cue, Naruto’s eyes clouded over, and he hurriedly lowered his mouth to latch onto Sasuke’s displayed skin, sucking on it like he’d starved himself just for this meal. He licked a wet trail from Sasuke’s naval and straight up, veering off to the left to circle his nipple, taking it into his mouth when Sasuke made an appreciative sound to nibble lightly on it. He spread Sasuke’s bent legs so he could fit comfortably between them, tongue tracing lewd patterns over pale chest muscles as it changed to the opposite nipple instead.

“Suck harder,” Sasuke groaned, raising his head to watch as that sinful mouth rolled the pink nub between teeth, licking it afterwards to soothe the tingle in it.

Naruto abandoned Sasuke’s chest in favor of kissing him, saliva mixing as his fingertips moved up and down shivering sides in a feather light caress. He allowed the raven to suck gently on his lower lip, shifting closer so that his groin came in contact with Sasuke’s ass, both of them moaning when Naruto’s hardness rubbed deliciously against it.  

Pushing forwards Naruto made Sasuke sink down on the white silky covers, leaving his lips to kiss the side of his neck instead, hands sliding up and down the smooth chest. Pale fingers ran affectionately through blond locks, gripping tighter when Naruto made a particularly large hickey over an old one, the additional pain in the already sensitive place forcing a choked gasp out of Sasuke as he tightened the hold his legs had around Naruto.

“You’re a bit of a masochist aren’t you?” Naruto teased, nuzzling Sasuke’s cheek with his nose.

Sasuke scraped his nails down the back of Naruto’s neck, tugging at his collar once he reached it and forced Naruto to lift his head up and create eye contact. With a smirk playing at the corners of his lips Sasuke nudged him closer, his tongue licking Naruto’s jaw line, then he kissed the spot underneath his ear.

“It’s your dream scenario to dominate me completely isn’t it?” he whispered, his voice raspy in Naruto’s ear. “I know how you look at me during sex Naruto, you want to tie me up and ravage me until I cry and beg you to stop.”

Naruto shuddered, swallowing thickly as heat flared up inside his veins.

“You make it sound like I’m some kind of abuser,” he breathed out shakily, fingers curling, twisting Sasuke’s shirt.

“I’m tired and high on mushy romance, this is your chance to make me scream and pass out. I’m yours.”

Naruto’s heart beat wildly against his ribs at Sasuke’s heated promise, he was so hard it hurt and Sasuke was absolutely right, he wanted to do sadistic and perverted things, he wanted to bring them to a height of pleasure he knew he could only reach with Sasuke. Gritting his teeth he grabbed Sasuke’s wrists and pushed them above his head, noses bumping as he stared deep into aroused darkness, feeling as if he was burning up from the inside out, panting heavily into Sasuke’s mouth.

“I wanna do so many bad things to you, Sasuke,” he breathed, initiating a sensual kiss, grinding down on Sasuke unable to help himself.

Sasuke arched his back, wanting to feel more of Naruto’s body heat, moving in sync with him. He’d never thought that being treated this roughly yet caringly could feel this good. Shouldn’t it be a harsh blow to his pride? Giving up his pride for Naruto, egging him on to take him hard, all it did was excite him.

He wanted it. He needed it. Any way, every way, he wanted Naruto to feel the extent of his feelings like this.   

“And here I wanted to make sweet romantic love to you the whole night,” Naruto mumbled after releasing his lips, both of them breathing heavily by this point.

“Hn. We both know you suck at romance.”

Naruto snorted, then kissed down Sasuke’s throat, scraping his teeth along his collar bone, one hand letting go of Sasuke’s wrist and the other now holding both. His free hand twisted a nipple on its way down, not wasting any more time before opening up Sasuke’s pants. Then he moved over to sit beside Sasuke, turning him around on his stomach. He pushed up the jacket and shirt until it reached Sasuke’s elbows, effectively restraining his arms. Straddling the back of the still pant-clad thighs he hooked his fingers over the lining of both pants and boxers, appreciating the now mostly naked sight of his husband as he pulled them down.

Sasuke groaned as the fabric was dragged over his straining cock, freeing it just to leave it trapped between his too hot body and the bed. He squirmed into a more comfortable position, letting out a small sound as Naruto grabbed his ass with both hands and leaned down to swirl that moist tongue over his lower back. When Naruto spread his cheeks and brushed a thumb over the ring of muscle he exhaled sharply, arms fighting his restraints, face buried into the mattress. Naruto’s mouth moved downwards, teeth sinking into flesh on its way, one hand releasing Sasuke to most likely reach for the lube. When Sasuke heard the click that signaled Naruto had opened the bottle he turned around, seeing him coat three fingers.

“Don’t even bother, just put it in,” he said, Naruto looking up at him in surprise.

“Wha- but Sasuke-“

“I’m telling you to fuck me already, what kind of lover are you if I have to tell you what to do all the time?”

The taunt struck home just like Sasuke knew it would, blue eyes narrowing, and suddenly he felt the weight of another body on top of him, Naruto leaning on one hand and with the other gripping dark hair to tilt Sasuke’s head back forcefully.

“I was trying to be considerate here, bastard,” he growled in his ear, the fabric of his suit feeling good against his skin. “Don’t say things like that when you have no idea of what I could do to you.”

“And if I’d like to find out?” Sasuke kept his smirk even when the fingers in his hair twisted painfully, turning his head enough so that their lips could brush. “Show me that my husband is not just a dobe with empty threats.”

Naruto held his gaze for a few moments, then his eyes darkened another shade and a dangerous smile formed on his lips.

“I think I just fell in love all over again,” he said, kissing Sasuke deeply before he had a chance to answer.

And somewhere in the midst of pain, pleasure, exhaustion, screaming and promises of love, Sasuke secretly prayed that the fire Naruto had started in his heart would never fade.

Because he belonged to Naruto and Naruto belonged to him.

And that certainly was no accident.


	15. Happily ever after

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you very much for reading, I hope you enjoyed it!! This epilogue is probably my favorite chapter, heh.

**Part 42: Epilogue**

 

When Naruto stepped into their apartment he was surprised as Sasuke immediately shoved him up against the door. Well, the whole shoving thing wasn’t very surprising, but the words whispered seductively in his ear were.

“Welcome home, Naruto. And don’t get any ideas, I’m topping today.”

Naruto sighed, dropping his bag of groceries on the floor. He’d gone to the supermarket after working at his part-time job, and even though he was always up for sex this was starting to become a little annoying.

“Really Sasuke, and what number in the order would this attempt be? I’m starting to wonder if you’re even doing this seriously.”

Sasuke scoffed at him, pushing harder against him and licking the shell of his ear.

“Hn. Say that again when my dick is in your ass.”

“Oh come on, teme,” Naruto whined, switching their positions and rubbing up against the brunet. “We both know you’ll give up half-way through and beg me to fuck you.”

Sasuke narrowed his eyes in warning, but when Naruto brushed their lips together and slid his hands underneath the loose t-shirt he had to bite his lip to prevent a whimper. But before Naruto’s hands reached his nipples he intercepted them, collecting himself and glaring death at the blond.

“What day is it tomorrow?” he asked, the dangerous edge to his tone making Naruto wonder if he’d done anything wrong lately.

“Umm, our one year anniversary?”

“Exactly,” Sasuke hissed, removing Naruto’s hands from his chest and turning them around again, pinning said hands above Naruto’s head. “I refuse to go a full year of this marriage without topping even once.”

Naruto couldn’t help himself. He started laughing, dropping his head onto Sasuke’s shoulder. Bad move. He sucked in a breath and cursed when Sasuke’s knee caused what was sure to become an ugly bruise on his thigh, and with eyes now watering from pain instead he raised his head to find a pissed off look on his husband’s face.

“I’m sorry Sasuke, it’s just that, I mean, uuh…” he faltered, having learnt the hard way that pissing off Sasuke by insulting his manliness was not a good idea.

“Hn. I thought so. Now let’s go.”

Sasuke let go of one hand only to drag him inside by the other, stopping and giving Naruto an unfair look screaming ‘You’re an idiot’ when he pointed out that they had to take care of the groceries first.

Once they’d managed to reach the bedroom Sasuke pushed Naruto on the bed, then positioned himself a few steps away and crossed his arms.

“Aren’t you joining me?”

“I’m not taking the risk of letting you touch me. You’re going to prepare yourself for me.”

Naruto pouted.

“Well you’re no fun.”

“Open up your pants,” was the answer (more like order) he got.

“I just washed these yesterday,” he complained, unbuttoning them and pulling down the zipper anyway.

“Then take them off, whatever,” Sasuke said and rolled his eyes.

Naruto pulled them off, boxers, socks and shirt joining them on the floor. He knew Sasuke hated it when he threw clothes deliberately on the floor.

“You’re kind of ruining the mood, glaring like that you know.”

“Well that’s _your_ problem isn’t it?” was the nice reply he got.

“I miss the romantic mushy Sasuke,” he mumbled in a self-pitying voice, starting to stroke himself.

“You’ll meet him tomorrow so you can stop feeling sorry for yourself.”

“You could at least talk dirty to me.”

Sasuke stared at him for a few seconds, then started talking in a monotonous voice.

“Oh god. You look so sexy like that Naruto. Yeah. Makes me so hard.”

“You’re a jerk.”

Sasuke smirked at him, then opened up his own pants to free his already half-hard dick. Starting to play with it he raised an eyebrow at Naruto.

“Better?”

Naruto pursed his lips.

“Hn.”

Sasuke scoffed at his trademark sound falling from the blond’s lips.

“You could never pull it off, so don’t bother trying. Start working on that tight asshole of yours instead.”

A few minutes later they were both considerably more worked up; Sasuke rubbing himself slowly as Naruto fingered himself on all fours, leaning on one arm.

“Feels good doesn’t it?” Sasuke asked, voice husky and slightly strained.

He was almost irrationally jealous that those fingers weren’t inside him instead, but he hurriedly squashed those thoughts. He had to use every ounce of self-restraint if he wanted to go through with this. And he _really_ wanted to.

“Mm, I’m fucking good at this aren’t I?”

“Yeah yeah, are you ready yet?”

Naruto raised his head to grin at him, the sight inspiring a strange mixture of arousal and annoyance in Sasuke.

“Impatient are we? Just don’t come as soon as you enter me.”

Sasuke walked over and crawled onto the bed, kneeling behind Naruto and grabbing the lube to slick himself up. He groaned as he fisted himself to even out the substance, Naruto urging him to hurry up. He got into position, guiding his erection and sliding the tip over the puckered hole in front of him. Gritting his teeth he started pushing inside.

Naruto tensed up momentarily at the slight discomfort. It wasn’t the first time he bottomed but it sure had been a while since the last time. He wasn’t a fan, but so far everything he’d done with Sasuke was at least a thousand times better than anything he’d done before, otherwise he would have objected more to it. He let out a gasp as Sasuke suddenly sank the whole way inside, not even bothering to go slow.

“Bastard,” he mumbled, but it must have fallen on deaf ears because Sasuke didn’t respond.

The raven was leaning against his back, his fingers digging into Naruto’s hips almost painfully, and he wondered if maybe his earlier taunt hadn’t been too far off. He was grateful for the pause though, Sasuke sure filled him up nicely.

“It’s fine, move, he said after another minute or so, feeling Sasuke nod his head against his skin and tentatively pull out.

If he was going to be honest it wasn’t the best sex they’d ever had, but Sasuke managed to get in a few good hits that had pleasure shooting up his spine. He jerked himself off in time with the thrusting, Sasuke releasing inside him without warning, and he cursed as he furiously fisted himself in order to not be too far behind.

Sasuke groaned as he clenched around him, sliding out and falling down on his back. Naruto turned around gingerly, some of Sasuke’s semen already dribbling out. It was totally hot to watch his own cum leaving Sasuke, another to feel it himself. He lay down on his side, fully intent on cuddling the raven but was given the cold shoulder.

“What is it now?” he sighed, recognizing the signs of a stage one sulking Sasuke.

Sasuke graced him with his favorite one-syllable answer.  

“Come on, Sasuke, I won’t know unless you tell me,” he coaxed, shuffling closer and succeeding in putting an arm around the other man.

Sasuke mumbled something, too quietly for Naruto to catch.

“What was that?”

“I _said,_ ” Sasuke huffed, “that I should have just spared myself the trouble and let you do me.”

It took a few seconds before the words sank in, but when they did a smile formed on Naruto’s lips and he snuggled closer to Sasuke.

“That’s nice,” he mumbled.

“No it’s not. It sucks. I hate you.”

“Oh really? Then I guess I should just leave you here and go get started with dinner.”

Sasuke grabbed his arm as he pretended to get up. Sinking back down he nuzzled Sasuke’s neck affectionately.

“Don’t worry about it. We’ll work on it.”

“Hn.”

“And Sasuke?”

He turned the raven over so he could see his face, the dark eyes staring at him indignantly.

“You’re gonna have to return the favor you know.”

The answering blush and smack on his arm made him chuckle, the perverted smile still there. Maybe he should cash it in right now.

xxx

“Hasn’t it been three years soon?”

Sasuke glanced at his brother and nodded.

“If you’re counting since the engagement.”

“And you still have no control over him?”

Sasuke sighed, rubbing his temples to rid himself of the imaginary headache Naruto was causing him at the moment.

“As I recall, this was your idea in the first place.”

“There’s nothing wrong with my idea,” Itachi said, leaning back comfortably against the edge of the swimming pool. “It’s your husband acting like a crazed kid that is the problem.”

And sure enough Naruto seemed to have the time of his life, running around the water park and wreaking havoc wherever he went.

“Do you think they’ll throw us out?”

“Don’t worry about it little brother, I’ve got you covered.”

That’s the point where Naruto decided to join them again, skidding to a halt on the tiles just behind their heads and kneeling down, throwing his arms around Sasuke’s neck.

“Best birthday present ever, Sasuke!” he shouted excitedly, ignoring Itachi’s slightly put out look. “Come on teme let’s go, I found this awesome waterslide!”

“Sasuke is fine right here,” Itachi said.

“No way, stop hogging him all the time Itachi! This ass belongs to me you know!”

“He’s my brother, so technically it belongs to me.”

Sasuke was desperately trying to breathe through the death grip Naruto had around his throat.

“Like hell it’s yours,” he wheezed out to his brother.

“What do you mean Sasuke? When you were a kid you always told me you’d grow up to become my bride,” Itachi said in a mock hurt voice.

“Lies! All lies!”

Sasuke smacked Naruto’s arm since he was chuckling.

“Nu-uh, I’ve got it taped.”

Now Naruto burst out laughing for real and Sasuke rid himself of his grip to attack the smirking older Uchiha.

“Jeez Itachi, get yourself a boyfriend,” Naruto complained once he’d stopped laughing and saved Sasuke from getting hugged to death.

“Why should I? I’m straight.”

“ _How_?” Naruto asked, his voice laced with as much disbelief as he could muster.

“What do you mean, why can’t I be?”

“You just made a claim to your own brother’s ass you know.”

The corner of Itachi’s mouth twitched. Sasuke despaired.

“Oh but Naruto dear, that doesn’t mean I’m into men. It just means I’m into incest.”

Naruto paled, as impossible as it sounds considering the excessive suntan he’d achieved while on their vacation.

“That explains so much,” he whispered, causing Sasuke to hit him again and Itachi to grin innocently. “I don’t think I can ever let you two be alone in the same room again.”

“Please don’t,” Sasuke agreed.

“Naruto!!! Come on, I just got us this awesome inflatable shark! Let’s go kill some tourists!” Kushina yelled, her voice carrying over most of the park.

“Count me in!” Naruto yelled just as loud, jumping to his feet and running off again.

So much for ‘Can’t leave you alone’.

“So…” Itachi said, giving Sasuke a pointed look as he scooted closer.

A shudder of fear ran down Sasuke’s spine and he turned around as fast as possible and got out of the water.

“Wait for me!” he called after Naruto as he started running.

Itachi chuckled quietly to himself, then sighed and made himself comfortable again. Lately he just didn’t get enough chances to tease his baby brother.

He was fairly sure he’d gotten him back now though. Deleting the simply perfect picture he’d taken of him yesterday, there was a limit to what he could get away with after all. So what if the picture was of him sleeping like dead on the beach due to over-activity in the bedroom while a random kid decorated him with seashells, seaweed and a crab Naruto had found.

It was a work of art.

xxx

“Sasukeeeeeee!” Naruto shouted and ran into the living room, jumping over the back of the couch but landing on the cushions instead of his husband as he’d expected to. “Sasuke? Where are you babe?”

“Don’t call me that,” Sasuke said, entering the room as well but at a walk like normal people.

“Why aren’t you on the couch? You ruined my awesome entrance,” Naruto pouted, stretching a hand out and beckoning for the raven to come over to the couch.

“I went to the bathroom during the commercials.”

“Oh. Well never mind,” the blond said in a much happier tone, turning the TV off with the remote.

“Hey, I was watching that” Sasuke complained as he sat down, allowing Naruto to cling to him.

“But Sasuke, they just called me!”

“They?”

“The company I had an interview with last week, remember?”

“Oh,” Sasuke said, shaking his head at the memory of an unbearably nervous moron pacing back and forth in their apartment for hours before it. “And what did they say?”

Naruto grinned widely, making the peace sign.

“I guess that’s a yes then.”

“Aaaaah can you believe I’m gonna start my first real well-paid job! I knew suffering through university would pay off!”

“Of course it paid off.”

“This is so awesome!”

“When do you start?”

“Two weeks from now.” Naruto couldn’t stop grinning, now also jumping up and down. “I can’t wait!”

“That’s still during summer,” Sasuke complained.

“Bastard, you’ve got work too anyway, don’t you!”

Sasuke only huffed, easing into a better position so Naruto wasn’t bending his neck in such a painful angle anymore.

“And the best part, Sasuke! Now you have to keep your end of the promise!”

Sasuke smiled, he couldn’t help himself when Naruto’s face radiated such happiness.

“As if I intended to break it even if you didn’t get the job.”

“That’s not good Sasuke, we need steady jobs before we even think about having kids.”

Naruto didn’t stop pouting even though Sasuke tapped his mouth with his index finger and then pecked his lips.

“And yet you seem to have thought this through already.”

“Well _someone_ has to be prepared!”

“Hn. I’m prepared. Actually, I already booked a meeting with the adoption agency.”

“You did WHAT!?”

“You don’t have to yell dobe. Come on, I knew you’d get the job, and if you didn’t you’d get another one soon. It’s going to take a few years to get accepted anyway, we should start as soon as possible.”

Naruto stared at Sasuke, their faces were already close since Naruto half-sat on Sasuke’s lap with his arms around his neck. Then he broke out into a smile, the kind of thousand-megawatt that still sent Sasuke into pleasant shivers.

“I love you bastard, you know that right?”

“Hn. You better love me.”

“Ooh what should we name them?!”

“Aren’t you getting a little ahead of yourself?”

“And should we get boys or girls?”

“That doesn’t really matter you know.”

“Hmm so both then…”

“Don’t just decide on your own!”

Then Naruto started an excited rant that lasted for weeks, getting worse once they’d visited the adoption center.

Sasuke didn’t really mind though.

xxx

“Sakura help meeeee~”

Sakura eyed the blond standing outside her front door with an unimpressed face.

“Rather than come whining to me every time you and Sasuke disagree on something, shouldn’t you man up and fix it yourself?”

“But Sakura, he’s really mad at me! I didn’t even do anything wrong this time!”

Sakura sighed, letting her miserable friend inside. It’s not like she was really busy anyway.

“So what is it this time?” she asked bluntly, handing him a cup of tea and sitting down opposite of him at her kitchen table.

“He complains that I’m working too much!”

“Then you probably are.”

“But I want to hurry up and save money for our baby!”

“And Sasuke disagrees with you because?”

Naruto sighed, running a hand through his unruly hair and pouting.

“He says there’s no point saving money if I die from over-working myself before we even have the baby” he muttered.

“So obviously Sasuke is right. Now go home, apologize, do what he says and stop bothering me.”

“But that’s not all Sakura! He’s gotten all moody lately, always nagging at me and nothing’s good enough! I don’t know what I’m supposed to do!”

“Naruto,” Sakura started, using her serious voice that for once made Naruto listen intently to her, “how long have you and Sasuke been married now?”

“Umm… a little over four years?”

“Don’t ask _me_ you airhead!” She sighed. “Look, all couples have good times and bad times alright? Honestly I’m surprised you’ve been this crazily lovey-dovey up until now. Maybe you’ve finally settled into a routine. When was the last time you surprised Sasuke and did something romantic together?”

“You mean like extra intense sex?”

“Idiot!” she yelled and hit him over the head. “Romantic, not sexual! Like going out for dinner, or taking a trip together, or just cuddle on the couch for hours.”

“Hmm… I guess it’s been a while since we did something like that… Ah! I know exactly what to do! Thanks Sakura, it’s surprising how good advice you give considering you’re still single.”

The cracking of knuckles made Naruto realize his mistakes, and chuckling nervously he rubbed his neck, getting out of the chair and hurriedly escaping towards safety.

xxx

The next day, Sasuke came home from work in a bad mood. No, bad wasn’t nearly close enough. He was pissed. Not only had Naruto been annoying him lately, he just called him to say there’d been a water leak in their apartment and he had to get home. That dobe really didn’t care that maybe he was actually in the middle of something important.

But fine, he was home now. Opening the door and stepping inside he didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary, and certainly no water. If anything the hallway was neater than usual. Maybe in case the water spread.

Walking further inside, the scent of cleaning products assaulted his nose, and curiosity getting the best of him he walked around the apartment, finding it spotless and shiny. Reaching the bedroom last he found Naruto sitting on their bed, a faintly nervous look on his face as he stood up.

“I took the day off and cleaned. And I also did the laundry and went grocery shopping and I fixed that broken mirror in the bathroom, and I bought a new coffee machine,” he rambled, almost too fast for Sasuke to understand.

“Why a new coffee machine?” he asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Well, you’ve been saying that the coffee isn’t as good lately, so I thought maybe there was something wrong with it, it was pretty old anyway.”

“Hn. This is nice and all, but couldn’t it have waited ‘til I finished work? I had a pretty busy day.”

“I know,” Naruto said and walked over to him, sneaking his arms around his waist and kissing his cheek. “I just wanted to spend some time together, you’re right, I’ve been working too much and I’ve been neglecting you. I’m sorry.”

Sasuke met his gaze for a few seconds then sighed.

“It’s okay, I forgive you. I haven’t been the best company either.”

Naruto’s lips quirked upwards. 

“You’ve been a little tense, I noticed. Lucky you that I know just the way to cure it.”

His voice dropped an octave or two, turning seductive as he led Sasuke over to the bed. Forcing him to sit down he loosened Sasuke’s dark green tie, taking it off and tossing it onto the bedside table. Then he opened up the first three buttons of the blue dress shirt, smiling impishly the whole time.

“Why don’t you find a more comfortable position?” he suggested, following Sasuke as he scooted backwards.

He gave Sasuke a deep kiss, and the raven moaned into it. He couldn’t believe it had already been a week since they had sex last time. Naruto let his hands trace down over Sasuke’s chest, fiddling with the belt once he reached it.

“I _really_ wouldn’t mind a blowjob,” Sasuke said when Naruto let go of his lips to expertly lick his throat.

“One blowjob coming up,” Naruto mumbled in his ear, already successful in his attempts to free Sasuke’s cock from its confines.

Not wasting any more time the blond eased down Sasuke’s body, eyes on the prize. Caressing pale hips he created a wet path along the underside of it, Sasuke sinking down to rest his head on a pillow, thrusting upwards for more contact. Taking the hardening appendage into his mouth Naruto hummed around it, rolling his tongue and using his teeth just the way he knew drove his second half crazy.

It didn’t take long for Sasuke to fall apart, squirming and twisting the sheets as Naruto went down on him without mercy. He came with a gasp, letting it all out in Naruto’s mouth.

“Feel better now?” Naruto asked as he hovered on all fours above the slightly panting raven.

“Make me come a few more times and then ask me again.”

Naruto snorted, leaning down to initiate another slow kiss. The fact that Sasuke still made him feel like a horny teenager every time they had sex had him smiling into it, and breaking the kiss to peck the tip of a pale nose he ghosted his fingertips over the smooth skin on Sasuke’s face.

“I’ll work less from now on, I promise.”

Sasuke blew some air through his nose, smiling back at him.

“I don’t like not having your full attention you know. I’m jealous of the kid we haven’t even met yet.”

Naruto snorted again and gave him a chaste kiss.

“Then let’s make the best of our freedom while we still have it,” he said suggestively, wiggling his eyebrows and making Sasuke laugh.

“Sounds good to me.”    

xxx

“I’m surprised you dare to sit down next to me looking so troubled.”

Sasuke glanced at Gaara. Honestly he hadn’t noticed the red-head already sitting on the couch in Kiba’s apartment; if he had he might have contemplated going somewhere else. As it was he couldn’t bring himself to care.

“Don’t flatter yourself, you’re hardly a threat anymore. Back with Sai again are you?”

“Having a lover’s quarrel at an engagement party are you?”

“Don’t try to be smart with me Gaara, I don’t like you.”

“And apparently you don’t like your cousin either, so I guess he and I are just made for each other.”

Sasuke took a sip of his drink, grimacing at the overly sweet taste.

“Isn’t it annoying to have such an on and off relationship?” he asked, not particularly interested, but not bored enough to settle for silence.

“We can’t all find the love of our life right underneath our noses.”

Gaara’s tone was faintly mocking, but not bitter. Maybe Sai was right and he really had gotten over Naruto.

“So the reason you’re with Sai isn’t to make your stalking easier? Or maybe you just enjoy annoying me.”

Gaara sent him a look that could almost have come off as amused.

“If I annoy you it’s a bonus.”

“Hn.”

“So,” Gaara said after a brief pause, “when are you going to admit defeat and let Naruto get what he wants?”

“What Naruto wants is a house that has no good qualities whatsoever.”

“It can’t be that bad.”

Sasuke turned his head to give him a look that clearly told him that yeah, it really was that bad.

“He only wants it because it’s close to a ramen restaurant. I’m not kidding. He’ll get fat. He’ll get _me_ fat.”

“Not to mention the kids.”

“As if I’d let him bring them up on ramen. But no, I’m not giving in until he understands that there’s more to choosing a _home_ for your future _kids_ than how close the nearest ramen place is.”

“Sounds harsh.” Gaara didn’t sound sympathetic at all.

“It is,” Sasuke answered, the lack of compassion or even interest going unnoticed.

“You guys doing alright?” the suddenly appearing Kiba asked, that honeymoon-phase-glow obvious in his whole appearance.

“Having the time of our lives,” Gaara answered.

“That’s cool. Oh Sasuke, by the way, you know Naruto would have agreed to pick your house if you hadn’t called ramen, and I quote, ‘slimy tasteless junk’.”

“Mature,” Gaara mumbled, and Kiba laughed out loud.

Sasuke froze, then groaned to himself. He should have known.

“Excuse me,” he said, getting up from the couch, “but I guess I have to go apologize to ramen.”

xxx

“Isn’t he the most adorable thing you’ve ever seen?”

“Oh look, he’s scrunching up his face, so cute.”

“I bet he picked that up from his mommy.”

Both Naruto and Kushina looked up to grin at Sasuke.

“Will you stop it with the ‘mommy’ deal already? I’m a man. I have a dick.”

“Sasuke! What kind of language is that in front of your baby son!” Kushina chastised him, and Sasuke groaned inwardly for the umpteenth time since Naruto’s and his own parents had come over to visit.

At least Minato didn’t call him mommy, but he might be the only one.

“You should be proud Sasuke, being a mother is a great responsibility.”

If his father thought he was cheering him up then he failed miserably.

“I just don’t see why we can’t both be dads,” he muttered, but as usual no one paid attention to him.

He feared for what would happen once the kid grew older and Itachi managed to come up with ways to get to him alone. Or – god forbid – letting him stay over at his grandparent’s place on his own.

No, it was probably better to focus on the present.

“Say hi to your mommy, Tetsuya,” Naruto said in a sing-song voice, holding up the baby’s little hand and waving it at Sasuke.

Sasuke tried very hard to ignore the adorableness that was his son.

“Oh just hand him over,” he finally said in a testy voice. “You’re clearly only using him for your own amusement.”

Naruto carefully picked little Tetsuya up from his secure place in his arms and gave him to Sasuke without any protesting.

If there was anything he thought was more adorable than looking at his son it was watching his husband holding him. The way Sasuke’s face lit up in wonder and pure love couldn’t be described with words.

Later, when their parents had finally left and Naruto had cleaned up the kitchen he went into the spacious living room of the house they bought about a year ago, finding Sasuke lying on the couch with the pink-clad (courtesy of Sasuke’s grandma) baby asleep on his chest. He sank down on the floor next to them, removing a stray strand of hair from Sasuke’s forehead.

“Hey,” he said quietly.

Sasuke smiled and took a light hold of his chin, guiding him down for a kiss.

“Can you believe we’re actually dads now?” Sasuke then said, a smile on his face.

“You mean mom and dad,” Naruto had to point out, just barely dodging when Sasuke tried to hit him. “But yeah, I know what you mean.”

Sasuke carefully brushed his fingers through the tiny tuft of hair on Tetsuya’s head.

“It’s a crazy feeling,” he mumbled.

Naruto put one arm behind Sasuke’s head, leaning over so that their foreheads connected. He raised his other hand to intertwine it with one of Sasuke’s, closing his eyes and smiling.

“I love you so much,” he whispered, and felt Sasuke squeeze his hand in response. “Both of you, so much.”

“I know. I love you too.”

If it was possible to become happier than they were in that moment, then they sure didn’t know how to achieve it.

xxx

“Mommy.”

Sasuke almost jumped, startled by Tetsuya’s voice. He’d been spacing out, cleaning up the kitchen after lunch, and now he looked down at the small seven-year-old boy, his light-blue hair a little ruffled and the just as light eyes staring seriously up at Sasuke.

“Can I go play outside?”

Sasuke smiled, patting the little boy’s head.

“Sure, let’s go get you dressed alright?”

The kid nodded, walking ahead towards the hallway to put on his winter clothes. Just as they were trying to find a lost glove the sound of small feet running reached them, and sure enough a moment later there was a loud “Tetsu~!” before the small girl glomped her brother.

“Sa’ski wants to play with Tetsu!”

Tetsuya patted his little sister’s light brown hair, otherwise seemingly un-faced.

“Come here then, Satsuki, I’ll help you with your clothes,” Sasuke said, stretching his arms out towards the four-year-old.

After struggling for a few minutes to dress his overly excited daughter and another few to find the missing glove he finally shooed them out the door, walking into the living room to make sure they made it safely to the backyard. He twitched when Satsuki tripped on the snow, but she got up again laughing as if it was nothing, and he relaxed again with a sigh.

Having kids wasn’t good for his nerves.

 “Hey mom,” Naruto said, sneaking up behind him and encircling his waist with his arms.

“Hn. I might let the kids call me mom, but you better watch it.”

“Hmm,” Naruto mused, burying his nose in Sasuke’s neck and hugging him tighter. “But you’re such a good mommy. The best in the world.”

Sasuke smiled, relaxing into Naruto’s touch and watching their children run around outside, playing some sort of tag. When he felt fingers sneaking underneath his shirt though he frowned, turning his head to give the owner of those wandering hands a questioning look.

“You know, they seem pretty busy over there, shouldn’t we go get some alone time?” Naruto said with a suggestive look, brushing his lips over Sasuke’s cheek.

“We’ll just get interrupted, like always. Dobe.”

“Mm but I have a good feeling about today…”

“You mean you’re horny enough not to care.”

“Might be,” Naruto answered innocently. “Come on, we’ll be quick.”

Sasuke gave him an amused look but followed him into their bedroom, allowing his husband to push him down on the bed. Naruto got down beside him, running a hand over his chest before kissing him, embracing him again and pressing their bodies together. They spent a good amount of time simply kissing and touching slowly despite Naruto’s earlier comment, enjoying a rare moment with neither of them on the verge of falling asleep.  

Sasuke’s prediction proved to be correct though. The voice of a sobbing Satsuki was suddenly heard, calling for her mommy.

“Just once, couldn’t they call for ‘daddy’ instead?” Sasuke muttered, untangling himself from Naruto and getting up to assess the damage.

“It’s because we love you so much,” Naruto grinned, following him out of the room.

Halfway into the living room, having entered via the door to the porch, stood a sniffling Satsuki. Once she saw Sasuke walking towards her she ran forwards, throwing herself into his arms to be comforted.

And since she hadn’t taken off her shoes the floor was covered in wet footsteps. Naruto snickered but shut up when Sasuke glared at him, not needing words to make him understand that he’d be the one cleaning up the mess. He raised his eyes to see Tetsuya trudging inside as well, fortunately stopping just inside on the rug, closing the door letting in the cold air behind him.

“Care to explain?” Sasuke asked the boy, who answered with a blank stare.

“She threw a snowball at me so I threw one back.”

Sasuke sighed, and Naruto tried to stifle his chuckles.

“It hurt,” Satsuki wailed, turning around to glare at her brother.

As Sasuke proceeded to explain to their son for the umpteenth time that he had to be more careful with his sister Naruto leaned against the wall, enjoying the scene more than he probably should.

He couldn’t help it.

He had the three people he loved the absolute most gathered together in one room, creating yet another precious memory.

Thinking back to when they just got engaged, remembering how he’d whined about how he didn’t want to spend the rest of his life with Sasuke…

It’s incredible how things turned out in the end.

Noticing that his little family didn’t seem to be reaching a truce anytime soon he shook his head and walked over to mediate.

He’d get them smiling soon enough.

And then they’d just keep living happily ever after.

~THE END~


End file.
